Good. >> Good evening. We uh we'll start the EDA meeting at uh approximately 611. Kim, roll call, please. [clears throat] >> You want me to moment? >> Yeah. It's on the >> Commissioner Bashar >> here. >> Commissioner Engel >> here. >> Commissioner Bud >> here. >> Commissioner Browson >> present. >> Commissioner Mohammed [clears throat] >> here. >> Commissioner Bodwin >> here. and President Ferris >> here. Um, so can we um can I have a motion to approve the agenda? >> So moved. >> Second. >> Any discussions? All in favor? >> I >> opposed. Um, everybody's in favor. Um, uh, can we have the minutes? Um, can we approve the minutes? A motion to approve the minutes. >> So move >> the meeting minutes. I'm sorry. So move to >> second. >> Um any discussion? All in favor? >> I >> opposed. >> Um consent items. Can um can we um can can we can I have someone to approve the consent items to approve the EDA dispersement resolution approving subgrant agreement related to taxbased um revitalization account grant for belt line station development war one and resolution approving transfer of 4300 36 and a2 street from from the EDA to the city war two. So moved. >> Second. >> Uh any discussion? >> Uh yes. I'd like to comment real quickly. It's uh we're moving some property that the city acquired on item number three. We're we're going to move some property owned by the EDA that we had acquired for uh potential development as a commercial affordable development, but after studying it for about a year and a half, we concluded that was not an effective use of the city's resources. And now we've decided we put the property up for sale. So we'll be transferring it over to the city and subsequently approving the sale of it. Thank you. Um uh so um can we what you say? >> Oh any further discussion? Uh so all in favor >> I >> I >> opposed. So that's everyone is in favor. We have no public hearing, no regular business, communication and announcements. None. This meeting is adjourned. >> It is now 6:15. Um Kim, roll call, please. Council member Bodwin >> here. >> Council member Farah >> here. >> Council member Browson >> still present. >> Council member Bud >> here. >> Council member Angel >> here. >> Council member Bashar >> here. >> Mayor Muhammad >> here. All right. Thank you all for joining us tonight. The room looks full. Uh we will uh we will start with our city council meeting with a pledge of allegiance. So please join us if you can and are able to and choose to. I pledge algiance to the flag >> of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> All right. Thank you all. Moving on to the approval of the agenda. Do I have a motion? >> So moved. >> Second. >> All right. It's been moved and seconded. Any discussion? All right, seeing none, I will move on to the votes. All those in favor signify by saying I. >> I. >> All opposed. All right, the agenda is approved. Uh, moving on to the presentations, which is why the big turnout is for not that you guys don't want to see us like this. Um, but we our first presentation is the 2025 human rights award. I'm going to actually invite our human rights commission uh chair Isabelle Anderson and Andrea Alvarez to present the awards uh to the PTO's of St. Louis Park if you want to come on up. Chair Isabelle I and then chair and co-chair Andrea or vice chair my bad. >> All right, can everyone hear me? Awesome. On behalf of the St. On behalf of the St. Louis Park Human Rights Commission, we are honored to present the 2025 uh human rights award. The This award recognizes individuals, groups, and businesses that strengthen our community by fostering understanding, cooperation, and connection among people of diverse backgrounds. It honors those who actively advance human rights and justice in St. Louis Park. This year, we received many nominations, each reflecting the compassion and commitment that define our community. [snorts] After thoughtful review, the Human Rights Commission has selected recipients whose actions exemplify what it means to stand up for one another in times of fear and uncertainty. During [snorts] Operation Metro Surge, many immigrant families in our community faced profound fear. fear that kept them from appearing in public, including sending their children to school. And in response, the PTO organizations across St. Louis Park public schools came together to ensure that students and families were not left without support. Their efforts grew into a coordinated network of care that provided rides, supervision, mutual aid, and a sense of safety when it was needed most. Their work strengthened the school district, deepened connections, and demonstrated the power of grassroots leadership. Because this effort involved countless parents and volunteers, each school's PTO is being honored as a representative of the many individuals who stepped forward. Their collective action reflects the very spirit of the of human rights, such as protecting dignity, ensuring access, and caring for one another as neighbors. On behalf of the Human Rights Commission and with gratitude to Virginia Mancini for her nomination, we're proud to present the 2025 Human Rights Awards to Aquilla Elementary School's PTO who's going to be represented by Diana Jackson. Susan Lindren Elementary School PTO represented by Kelsey Roadie. Uh Peter Hobart Elementary School PTO represented by Julia Wolf Scman. Park Spanish Emergent Elementary represented by Brena uh Batres and St. Louis Park Middle School site council PTO who tonight will be represented by Julia. [applause] [applause] >> [applause] [applause] >> Woohoo! [applause] All right. >> [applause] >> Um, I know that I know that um I know that a couple of folks want to say uh a couple of things before uh folks go ahead and sit down. And I know that as soon as we wrap up, you guys will get an opportunity to take pictures outside as well. So definitely there'll be plenty of uh time for for pictures. And I want to make sure that we hear from the nominee. Well, not from the nominator. Is that what it is? Is that the Yeah. Sorry y'all. Um to Virginia, if you want to come on up, I should say school board member. Uh come on up, please. And introduce yourself. Um and then tell us a little bit of why why you nominate. we know why you nominated them, but if you could tell us, that'd be great. >> Sure. Uh my name is Virginia Mancini and I'm the chair of the St. Louis Park School Board. And I think that what was um important to me and why I nominated uh the the families of St. Louis Park is because when as a as a school leader, I was um I had a bird's eye view of things that were going on. And so sometimes I missed out on some of the more granular things that were happening in our district. >> [clears throat] >> And um I think that there were it was such a a time of fear um but also a time of resilience and pulling together. And so I met with um each chair or each uh schoolboard director has a is a leazison to one of the schools. And so I was meeting with my Aquilla family. But then I started um I have Brena is a former student of mine. So I also met with Brena. And as soon as Brena showed me the very extensive and wellmapped out like flowchart of mutual aid, I was like, we need to nominate um all of these families for the human rights award. I was chair of the human rights commission um in 2020. And so it was uh something that I was very passionate about and I knew that this was um a really good fit for the families of St. Louis Park. So on um on behalf of myself as a parent, I am so grateful to everything that you did and as on behalf of our school leadership, we're also so grateful for the families that we have. >> Yeah. >> Thank you. >> Thank you. [applause] >> Now, do our recipients want to say a couple of words before I open up to the council? I'm gonna read. >> If you want to get into the in front of the nearest microphone, that would be amazing. >> Okay. I'll read a few words from Cali Reese, who is one of the many organizers. Um, tonight the St. Louis Park PTO's were honored to receive the city's 2025 Human Rights Award, and we're still a little speechless. We didn't do this for an award. We did it because our neighbors needed us, and because every child deserves to feel safe going to school. The ward belongs to every neighbor who organized a ride, watched a child, dropped off groceries, or simply showed up when families were afraid to. To every family who trusted us, thank you for letting us show up for you. We are so proud to call St. Louis Park home. [applause] >> [applause] >> Um, thank you so much. You are inc That is you are right. I don't think any of you guys have done this for the award, but it gives us an opportunity to thank you guys for the work that you guys have done. I know that I've seen you guys firsthand doing this during the oper operation metro surge uh when ICE came to Aquilla. I know many of us were there that day. Um, thank you for your work on it. I know that it's been an incredibly hard couple of months and I always say this, each one of us had a role to play those couple of months and you guys played it to perfection and I am incredibly proud to be a part of this village uh that watches out for their own that takes care of their kids that um that drops off food that makes sure that kids who miss school have their homework. Uh so thank you for your work. I know that PTO does a lot more than what you guys were doing in the ice surges. I think about even how you guys coordinate for the fundraisings. I know that um a part of what we did was um with the mayor for a day for with the kiddos and whatnot. So like I know you guys do a lot more um and we want to thank you guys every opportunity we get and thank you all for showing up. Uh, like I said, I think our schools really got hit the hardest uh these past couple of months and so um to show up in trust and love and joy is all we can do when everything else has been um taken away. So, thank you council. [applause] Also, I'm going to need you to start crying. I mean, stop crying because I'm reaching for my for my Yeah. Like, I I can't. So, thank you. >> Um, I'd like to say congratulations to each of you. Um, you know, the kids are very important um, people in our society and sometimes they are forgotten about, you know, so thank you for taking care of them and making sure they're safe and all the wonderful things that you did. Thank you so much. [applause] >> Paul is already beating us to >> what's that? >> The tears are already coming out. I got my Kleenex. God dang it. >> No, I I don't know what to say. Uh just other than thank you. Um that whole thing just I don't know. It really impacted me and I'm not even vulnerable. Um but just watching the pain and the torment and the fear that that people were going through and you just you did a massive and I would say historic piece of work um to protect our children. And thank you to all of you who also showed up. Um because the organizing is only as good as the people show up, [laughter] but you don't get the people to show up without the organizing. So, thank you so much for all that you did to watch out [snorts] for our vulnerable vulnerable families. I've never been more proud to be a resident of this city than from those awful months of December, January, and February, and March. So, thank you. Thank you. [applause] Any any others? Okay. All right. I'm going to selfishly ask for a selfie real quick. Is that okay? I've never done that. I've never done that. But the turnout is so amazing and I feel like we It's worth celebrating. It's been a really hard couple of months. Yeah. Is that okay? All right. Uh you guys can come up right here and then I'll just catch everybody else in there. >> [laughter] >> All right. >> Oh, this is good. >> This is how we need to take photos from now on. Thank you guys so much. Thank you. [applause] And thank you to board chair. Thank you for the great nomination. Honestly, >> all right. If you guys want to go and take photos, we will not get offended. If you want to get up and leave, I promise I will only cry in the corner. I promise. No, you were doing fine on your own, sir. All right, I'm actually gonna wait a couple more seconds. Isabelle. Isabelle. Chair. Isabelle. Lynette. Okay. Maybe not. >> Isabelle and Lynette. >> Okay. I was going to tell them while they're heading out. Maybe remind folks we're still doing the meeting. Uh but it's okay. >> They're closing the door. Okay. Perfect. All right. So, uh, moving on to our proclamations, we also have a a a a good amount of, uh, proclamations. The first one up is proclamation observing small business week, which I believe which of my council members are read is reading that one. Council member, you go ahead. >> Okay. We have proclamation observing National Small Business Week, May 3rd to 9th, 2026. Whereas St. Louis Park celebrates, recognizes, and values the dedication [snorts] and entrepreneurial spirit within its community. And whereas small businesses are the backbone of St. Louis Park's economy. Whereas, according to the US Small Business Administration, there are nearly 560,500 small businesses in Minnesota, representing 99.5% of Minnesota businesses, 45.8% of the working population, and employing 1.3 million people. And whereas the president of the United States has declared National Small Business Week every year since 1963 to highlight the programs and services available to entrepreneurs through the US Small Business Administration and other government government agencies. And whereas St. Louis Park supports and joins in this national recognition to help America's small businesses do what they do best, create jobs and ensure that our communities remain as vibrant tomorrow as they are today. Whereas the people of St. Louis Park are grateful to the many small locallyowned businesses within the city for their generous contributions to the quality of life we all enjoy. Now therefore, let it be known that the mayor and city council of the city of St. Louis Park do hereby recognize May 3rd to 9th, 2026 as National Small Business Week in the city of St. Louis Park and reminds residents of the importance of this community celebration which acknowledges and celebrates the achievements made by small businesses both locally and nationally. Thank you, Council Member. >> Oh, [applause] thank you, Council Member Ingel King. Um, for that, I one thing I would add to that is as part of our the way that we're celebrating uh this week as well is that uh Congresswoman Ilhan Omar will be joining me for three for three business visits. Uh we're starting off um I don't know the exact order but I know we're visiting Yum Bakery uh Mexico cafe um Mexico City Cafe and Eling Brewing something Elsber Brewing. Yeah. Yeah. As you can tell I'm not a I don't go there. Not that not not not that it's not a good place. I just don't drink. That's what it is. But we're going to go there and we're going to go visit. And these are also uh small businesses that were impacted during the ICE surges and and Operation Metro Surge. So, anytime that you can go support small businesses this week, please go out um and and and really uh uh give back to our local economy so that uh it may come back to us one way or the other. Thank you, Council Member. >> Yes, go ahead. Yeah, I just wanted to say on that note, um, particularly in supporting small businesses, just really encourage people to especially support our small business businesses at Louisiana and Cedar Lake Road right now as they're going to enter into a lot of construction which always just has a really profound impact on small businesses. They're working on very small margins. So, if you can this the businesses will be open, get over there, hit, you know, Ariana's >> and Olsburg and and Ariana is fantastic, by the way. really, >> but uh yeah, just make it a point this summer to get out to those businesses in Louisiana on Cedar Lake Road. >> Thank you. Any others? Okay. Nope. All right. Um with that, I'm going to move on to the next one, which is the proclamation observing bike month. Um I believe that's you, Council Member Bodwin. >> That is me. Honored to recom turn my mic off. There we go. Whereas throughout the month of May, the residents of St. park and its visitors are encouraged to experience the joys of bicycling through commuting events or by simply getting out and going for a ride. And whereas the bicycle is an economical, healthy, convenient, equitable, and environmentally sound form of transportation and an excellent tool for recreation and enjoyment of St. Louis Park. And whereas St. Louis Park's road, bikeway, and trail systems attract bic bicyclists each year, providing economic health, mobility, and transportation. And whereas creating a bicycle friendly community is consistent with the city's strategic priorities, and the established goals of the climate action plan, our commitment to racial equity and inclusion, and the connect the park capital improvement plan. And whereas creating bic a bicycle friendly community has been shown to improve health, well-being and quality of life, grow the economy, improve safety, and reduce pollution and congestion. And whereas St. Louis Park has been designated a silver status bicycle friendly community by the League of American Bicyclists. And whereas as recognized for people by people for bikes, St. Louis Park ranks third in the state behind only Minneapolis and St. Paul for the quality of its bike bike bike bike bike bike bike bike bike bike bike bike bike bike bike bike bike bike bike bike bike bike bike network and whereas greater public awareness of bicycle operation and safety education is needed and in an effort to reduce collisions, injuries and fatalities and improve health and safety for everyone on the road. Now therefore, let it be known that the mayor and the city council of city council of the city of St. Louisis Park, Minnesota do hereby proclaim May 2026 as bike month in our community. And I just would like to say a couple words. Like I said, I'm honored to uh read this proclamation. I'm a avid cyclists myself. Um and it's one of the reasons I I live here is the the bike uh connections that we have. Um it is indeed uh a wonderful way to get around. I consider it to be one of the greatest inventions in the history of mankind. The bicycle is a fascinating invention. Um, and so I encourage people to get out, especially now that a lot of our trails that have been closed for years are open again. And on May 9th, uh, we will have a ribbon cutting of the Kennallorth Corridor reopening. Um, there's an event happening there. I believe it's at 11 is the is the, uh, ribbon cutting. So, um, 10, I thought Oh, it's a 10. Okay. 10. Well, there starts stuff stuff starts at 10. I think the ribbon cutting is at 11. Um, so anyways, uh, get out, get on your bike, be safe, and, uh, yeah, love it. Go bikes with my bike. So, yeah, see me riding a bike in a couple of years. So, um, thank you so much, Council Member. Uh any others on that? >> Okay. See, now I'm gonna move on to the proclamation observing Asian-American and Pacific. >> Sorry, that was Pacific Islander and Native Hawaiian Heritage Month. Go ahead. >> I I hoped because I thought I had a break, but I don't. [laughter] Yeah. So, this is the proclamation observing Asian-American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander Heritage Month. Whereas Asian-American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander, AANHPI communities are an integral part of and of the diversity that makes up St. Louis that make St. Louis Park a vibrant city. And whereas this month celebrates the stories and resilience of Americans uh from across the Asian continent, including South Asia, the Pacific Islands of Malania, Micronesia, and Polynesia. And whereas A&HPI motans are over 320,000 inter individuals representing over 40 different ahpi nationalities including but not limited to Asian Indians, Bangladeshi, Burmese, Cambodian, Chinese, Filipinos, Mung, Japanese, Karin, Korean, Lao, Nepoese, Pakistani, Taiwanese, Thai and Vietnamese. And whereas A&HPI peoples are the fastest growing population in Minnesota and the city of St. Louis Park is home to approximately 2,286 residents of A&HPI heritage. And whereas this month serves as an opportunity to build a brighter future while acknowledging how these communities have historically faced persecution, discrimination, oppression, xenophobia, anti-Asian hate and model minority myth uh that contributed to the increase of violence against AAHPI communities. And whereas A&HPI uh from all walks of life, small business owners, community leaders, nonprofit organizations, and advocates have contributed greatly to the foundation of our country. Now, therefore, let it be known that the mayor and the city council of the city of St. Louis Park, Minnesota, hereby observe May 2026 as Asian-American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander Heritage Month in our community. >> [applause] >> Um, as you mentioned, uh, council member, uh, we do have a large, uh, group and a growing population of AAP, um, um, or I should say Asian, let me, let me make sure I'm saying that correctly. Uh, Asian-American, Pacific Islander, Native Hawaiian, um, folks. I as I think about our Thai American community and what what Thai um and how much they have contributed here in St. Louis Park between the Sunday Fest and the Summerfest um uh we are incredibly grateful for our relationship with them and and and folks who live around St. Louis Park who contribute to uh the fabric of St. Louis Park. So thank you. Um, moving on to the proclamation observing American Indian Native American Heritage Month, which is to be read by Council Member Bud. >> Thank you, Mayor. >> My honor to read the this proclamation. Whereas American Indian communities are an integral part of the diversity that makes St. Louis Park a vibrant city. And whereas Minnesota celebrates American Indian Month in May to recognize and honor tribal nations and the robust urban communities that include tribal affiliations from across the country. And whereas the lands that make up St. Louis Park are the ancestral and contemporary homelands of the Dakota people. And Minnesota is a vibrant and diverse community composed of 11 sovereign tribal governments. And whereas Native American entrepreneurs, educators, artists, and leaders of community, spiritual, and political spaces have helped create a more just and inclusive community for all. And whereas many motans remind us daily of significant American Indian contributions to the state, including Lieutenant Governor Peggy Flanigan, Ajiway, who grew up in the city of St. Louis Park and is the highest ranking Native American woman elected to executive office in the United States. Heidi E. Erdri, Erdrich, Ojiway, author of seven award-winning poetry collections. Henry Boucher, Ojiway, Olympic silver medalist and national hockey league legend. And ohisha, also known as Charles Eastman, Dakota physician and famed published author. And whereas state and federally sanctioned laws and practices have contributed to the historical and generational trauma and displacement of American Indian nations through broken treaties, policies of forced removal and discrimination against American Indian cultural practices. And whereas this month is an opportunity to take steps forward and work together to build practices and policies that eliminate discrimination and promote understanding and respect of American Indian communities and their tribal sovereign sovereignty. Now therefore, let it be known that the mayor and city council of the city of St. Louis Park, Minnesota, hereby observe May 2026 as American Indian Native American Heritage Month in our community. [applause] Um, I'm going to move on to our next one, which is the proclamation observing Jewish American Heritage Month. Uh, Council Member Bashar, you have the floor. Thank you, mayor. Um, whereas JewishAmerican communities are an integral part of the diversity that makes St. Louis Park a vibrant city, and whereas JewishAmerican communities have played a large role in our city and state through entrepreneurship, religious leadership, and civic involvement, helping create a more just and inclusive community for all. And whereas St. Louis Park is home to several Jewish schools, businesses, synagogues, and diverse Jewish communities. [snorts] And whereas acknowledgement and understanding can help challenge anti-semitism and break negative stereotypes about Jewish Americans and the Jewish faith and furthers the city's commitment to being a welcome, safe community. And whereas this month serves as an opportunity to better understand the Jewish American experience and celebrate the achievements and contributions of Jewish Americans in our city, state, and country. Now, therefore, let it be known that the mayor and city council of the city of St. Louis Park, Minnesota, hereby observe May 2026 as Jewish American Heritage Month in our community. [applause] Any comments? Okay. All right. Last but definitely not the least uh is of our proclamation observing military appreciation month which is read to which is to be read by Council Member No, Rosson. No. Oh, sorry. Council member Ferris, I was trying to figure out. [laughter] Council member Ferris, go ahead. >> Uh, proclamation observing military appreciation month. Whereas St. Louis Park recognizes and honors mil honors military service both past and present during the month of May. And whereas Minnesota is home to nearly 290,000 veterans and many present service members. And whereas military service members face unique challenges that create barriers to participating into in to participating into the civilian life and relationships including mental health and employment. and where's the United States United States Congress has proclaimed military appreciation month every May since 1999 to recognize the contributions and sacrifices of military service and highlight resources available to service members throughout the U throughout through through the US United States Department of Veterans Affairs and other government agencies whereas St. Louis Park takes part in the national rec recognition and opportunity to show gratitude to the service of the military in supporting national safety. Now, therefore, let it be known that the mayor and city council of the city of St. Louis Park do hereby recognize May 20 26 as military appreciation month in our community. [snorts] >> [applause] >> And I would just like to say um thank you to all the veterans uh because we just don't do enough for them. They laid their lives on the line for us, you know, and we just, you know, it it hurts me to see them, you know, fighting to um have a place to live or get the services that that they need. We should put them first, you know. Um my dad was a Vietnam veteran and he came back really messed up, you know, and it just bugs me that um we do them like that, you know, that we should be putting them on a platter and making sure that they at least have the things that they need, you know, because they deal with mental health things and you know, they see people that they connect with drop dead and they have to keep going. You know, that's a lot. So, okay, I ain't going to preach, but I just want to say thank you and we appreciate you. Thank you. >> Well, you were preaching to the choir. So, >> um thank you, uh Council Member Ferris. Uh that is the last of our proclamation. Uh I'm going to move on to the minutes. We have three minutes, which is uh study session minute uh meeting minutes of April 13, 2026. We have city council meeting minutes of April 20th, 2026. Um, and then study uh special study session meetings of minutes of April 20th, 2026. So, do I have a motion and or a correction or amendment? Uh, Madame Mayor, on the uh uh minutes of the study session on April 20th, 2026 on page three, there there were some comments I made about being involved in the process for 18 to 19 years and the transit oriented development being uh evident along the Southwest light rail line and those were attributed to council member Bud or as Mayor Prom and the record should reflect that. I said that. >> Okay. Council member Angel King. >> Uh I do have uh one as well. The uh study session meeting minutes of April 13, 2026. Uh there is a description of the neighborhood grant funding. Uh option three says increase floors for tier 2 three neighborhoods while modestly reducing the tier one allocation. Uh I think uh in interest of accuracy that would be better to say uh increase floors for tier two and three neighborhoods while increasing the tier one grant maximum. And I have sent both of these to the clerk to uh take care of that. And then there's a second one where I noted at least one neighborhood. Uh the minutes say inside his ward declined to participate after the funding floor was reduced. Uh that should actually be changed to uh outside the ward. Gotcha. Okay. And that's April 13th, right? >> April 13th, correct? >> Okay. Gotcha. >> The neighborhood uh grant discussion. >> Perfect. Um any other Yes. Go ahead. >> Yeah. I had one little one on the April 20th um >> special study session or >> Yeah. >> Okay. >> Where is that? Um and it was in regard that was the one in regards to um the green line, right? >> Yeah. >> 4C. Yeah. >> Yeah. And there was uh something in there that said I had asked about complimentary tickets. I have no recollection of ever saying that. I feel like somebody did, but I don't think it was me. Okay. Yeah. So let Yeah. The record should reflect that that was Yolanda's comment or question and not mine. >> Gotcha. Okay. All with amendments. All right. This makes the job easier. Not well, not for whoever's correcting it, but for me because now I get to entertain a motion with is amended. I'd move approval of the minutes as corrected. >> As corrected. Yeah. >> Second. >> And that would be all of them. Correct. >> Yes, please. >> Okay. Perfect. All right. It's been moved and seconded. Any further discussion? >> All right. Seeing none, I will now move on to the votes. All those in favor signify by saying I. >> I. >> All opposed. All right. The minutes are approved as amended. Uh, moving on to the consent items. I have one comment to make about 5B, but I will uh withhold I will hold my comments until um motions and whatnot. >> I'd move approval of the consent agenda as presented. >> Second. >> All right, it's been moved and seconded. Uh my first comment is uh for 5B. I do I do want to give recognition to the folks who have donated to the city. Um I am trying to pull up real quick. There we go. Um, and I want to call I want to call uh I want to call them out. Not in a bad way, but like just call them in. Um, so first one is Tree Trust uh giving us $12,000 in donations for uh trees for labor for and labor for Arbor Day celebrating May 14th, 2026. Um, and then John and Meen uh donating $1,000 uh to for access to fund at the Westwood Hills Nature Center. And then Jodie Harmon for I don't have a donation amount, but she donated 24 binoculars to the Westwood Nature Hills Center. And then Westwood Hills Nature Center visitors uh donated $8323. I mean, wow. $83.23 uh for programs at the Westwood Nature Hills Center. So, thank you so much uh for being a part of this and for making um for making it work in our community and for donating to our programs and to things that are going all around St. Louis Park. Uh that being said, do I have any Yep. Go ahead. >> Yes. I' I'd just like to do a follow-up comment to what I said during the EDA uh consent agenda item number 5J is a resolution approving a purchase agreement for 430036 a or 36 and a half street over in Ward 2. And I'd like to note as I did previously that the city explored putting in affordable commercial property there. it wasn't worth the investment that we would have had to make which would have uh been really substantial and we then look to sell the property again and return it to the private market and we're getting roughly what we paid for it. So I think it was a pretty good exchange. >> Thank you, council member. Any others? >> Uh yes. >> Yes. >> Uh we should also mention that uh property is uh being purchased by a bipac St. Louis Park business person. uh they currently rent their space so they're going to become uh owners and you know likely uh landlords as well. So uh you know really in ter in terms of we're celebrating uh small business week uh great example of uh small business people being able to stay in St. Louis Park and potentially uh expand their operations. >> I would agree. Thank you. Council member Go ahead, Council Fraser. Um, I just want to note that consent agenda item 5F is the approving the bid for the 2026 pavement management project, not only in Ward One, but in my neighborhood of the Bronx Park. So, just a reminder to all Bronx Park uh residents, construction will begin for that I think the end of this month, early next month. Also went to, not that the engineering team had any say in it, but um came in 20% under budget. I think 1.7 million below the CIP budget. So, great job. I know you had nothing to do with that, but great job. [laughter] Um, and also just as uh an example of acting like the community building, um, the Bronx Park Neighborhood Association organized a little open and gardening hours to help a resident along 29th Street, which will be getting the sidewalk. Um, a bunch of us went out last Thursday night and helped relocate a bunch of plants. And I think there's going to be a group of people there this Saturday evening as well. So, if you have a green thumb, show up to 29th Street and help move some plants. >> All right. Thank you. Uh, any others? All right. Uh oh, my bad. Go ahead. >> Okay. I just wanted to call out on item 5e that we have received a Minnesota Pollution Control Agency grant to help us with um reupping our climate action plan which we're going to be doing for a 10-year reup um in 2028. So, it's very um prudent and exciting to say that um we're going to have a big chunk of the cost of doing that um picked up and supported by the uh MPCA. So, I'm happy to hear that. Thank you, council member. Any others? Okay. All right. Uh seeing no further discussion, I'll now move on to uh uh votes. Uh all those in favor signify by saying I. >> I. All opposed. All right. The agenda is the consent agenda is approved. All right. Uh moving on to the public hearing. Um All right. So I do I already see a lot of a couple of blue cards, but first I'm going to open it up to uh this is a public hearing for Manito Boulevard reconstruction project phase two. Before I hand it off to staff, I do want to give uh I do want to remind folks that this is a public hearing. Uh before staff begin their presentation, I have a couple of thoughts I would like to share about this public hearing. Public hearings are an opportunity to hear directly from residents, but by design are not a question and answer forum because we know this can be frustrating and trust it will get frustrating for you guys. And uh when you we know that you want answers, staff will be available to you just right outside uh at the end of the session uh to ask to answer any of your questions and if they don't have answers at the moment uh they will get back to you in a timely manner to answer to the answer to your question. I would al also like to bring attention to the blue cards in the back which Deb already has her in her has it in her hands. Uh, and those blue cards, they're not required that you fill it out, but it helps me run this meeting a lot more smoother. Find out who's coming up, who's talking. Um, it just better time management is all. So, as you're as you're thinking about uh whether you want to talk or not tonight or speak on this tonight, please fill it out and then pass it on to Deb and she'll bring it up here. Uh, [snorts] and so that's pretty much it. I'm gonna pass it on to you, Jack. Yeah. Or Mark. My bad. Mark, I literally see you up there. My bad. >> No, no worries. >> Go ahead. >> Thank you, Mayor Mohaved and city council. Um, my name is Mark Elgard. I'm an engineering project manager. My >> is that better? Okay. So, is that Yeah. My name is Mark Elgard. I'm an engineering project manager here at the city. Um, with me today is Nick Turner with Alliant Engineering. He's the design consultant working with Henipin County and us on this project, as well as Jack Sullivan, the assistant city engineer. Um, I just click or do I how do I see >> here slideshow from beginning all right we'll try that all right um so before Before I start, um Jason Stabel, whose name is on this presentation with Henipin County, uh he is unable to make it tonight. He is out sick, so Nick and I will be filling in in hisstead. Um so [snorts] little bit of leeway as we read through the slides, but we will certainly do our best. Um so we have two main actions tonight. Um we are here to host a public hearing with the community. We are here to collect feedback from the community for the June 1st um council report and decision. There is no decision needed tonight at today's meeting. We also have two policy considerations for city council to keep in mind as you hear this presentation and um hear public feedback. Um one, does the council support the preferred concept be design for Minnotonka Boulevard? And two, does the city council wish to pursue the undergrounding of overhead utilities within this corridor? Um, this is going to be a highle presentation of all the information in the report um, attached to today's meeting. And with that, I'll pass it over to Nick Turner with Alliant Engineering. Thank you, Mark. Um, again, the the project before you tonight is uh the reconstruction of Minnetonka Boulevard uh west of Highway 100 uh to Aquilla Avenue. Um this is a continuation of the work that was completed uh last summer um and extending that uh to Aquilla. Um this segment was last fully reconstructed in 1956 um and is currently ending the the near is nearing the end of its useful life. to touch on the project schedule. Uh the project team has spent uh 2025 doing some conceptual design and public engagement um and heading into 2026 uh looking to um confirm the um outcome of our uh public or preliminary design. Uh we'll be spending 2026 and 2027 in final design uh with private utility relocations scheduled to start in 2027. Um and then the large reconstruction efforts starting in 2028 anticipated for two construction seasons. Um as I mentioned through 2025 we did have um public engagement and preliminary design um ongoing as a project. Just to recap some of that um the preliminary engagement effort started with a a phase zero engagement where we were doing a listening session understanding the existing conditions. that would have been started in in February of 2025. Um phase one and phase two were through the summer of 2025 where we refined concepts and again listen to the public to understand um how we were doing and how we could improve um and it culminated in a phase three open house on April 15th uh just recently. Just a couple um engagement engagement facts. Um we sent about 1,900 postcards for each of our um events, each of our our open houses. U we also included about 25 yard signs uh throughout the corridor. Um during the phase 3 open house recently, we did have around 120 attendees in person um and received 20 additional comments outside of that openhouse. Um the project goals as we were were hearing um from the the public um and working with the different agencies uh really settled onto six uh goals to improve um the comfort and ability to travel along Minnotonka Boulevard uh to improve access to the regional multimodal networks. um to design a welcome and slower people friendly street um to design um a street that will complement businesses and shopping. Um to improve transit access and comfort and then to create a greener and more vibrant streetscape. Um those are the the six goals that came out from our preliminary design. Through that three concepts uh were considered through preliminary. You'll see concepts A, concept B, and concept C. Um, concept A features separated areas um [clears throat] separate areas to people who are walking and biking um by proposing a very similar uh typical section to the Cedar Lake Road uh where we have a one-way bike path and a sidewalk on each side of the road. Uh, concept B features a shared use path on each side of the boulevard um allowing bicycles to uh ride in either direction on each side of the street. Um, concept B also features more um green space um than concept A. One differentiator between the two. Uh for concept B, uh snow clearing and storage of snow is also larger um in consideration to concept A. Um the trade-off for concept B is this design. um puts uh pedestrians and cyclists within the uh same space on both sides of the road. Uh for concept C, uh concept C features that the shared use path on one side um of the street uh while also providing a sidewalk only on the other side of the street. Uh bicyclists are then limited to cycling in either direction, only on the one side of the street, requiring bicyclists to uh cross the street to get to the bike way u in one of the two directions that they would be traveling. Um concept C does stand out as it providing the largest amount of green space within the the three concepts that were considered ultimately through the design considerations. concept B advanced as the recommended design uh providing two shared use uh paths um on each side. Um again the one of the reasons this one stands out um is it provides uh bicyclist the ability to travel um in either direction on either side of the road. Um not requiring a bicyclist to cross the street if they do not need to to get to the bike facility. Um this uh the trade-off again um is potential conflicts between pedestrians and bicyclists on a shared facility. Uh the evaluation of the three concepts um you'll see in the matrix ahead of in front of you. All three concepts could make improvements to the corridor. Um, concept B is is selected uh because it provides the the best all ages and abilities network for both pedestrians and cyclists. Um, it eliminates the need for cyclists to cross Minnitanka Boulevard depending on their direction of travel. Uh, it also provides a a large green space that's going to support new tree plantings along the corridor. Um the concept B uh does not require the city to hire additional staff for maintenance and snow removal purposes. Uh it also offers uh low implementation and long-term maintenance costs. Um so as we looked at the three concepts, concept B strikes the nice balance uh between mobility and maintenance needs um and ultimately rose to the the top of our consideration list. um addressing some of the the tree removal concerns. Um the preferred concept will require the removal of approximately 175 trees. Um of those 39 of them, 39 of the 175 are larger than 6 in. Um so that's a the majority of the trees we're impacting are smaller than 6 in. Um the design uh does include a new wider boulevard space next to the roadway on both sides um allowing us to plant um allowing us the opportunity to plant new trees um based on the average spacing. Again, we're in preliminary design. We are making assumptions on the um the species selection um the spacing requirements and the future utility locations. Uh we are anticipating u being able to accommodate up to 320 new trees along the corridor with concept B. That I will pass it back to Mark. [clears throat] Thank you Nick. Um [snorts] so uh like he had like Nick had mentioned concept B provided the best all ages all facility or all ages all abilities facilities for the corridor. Um I'm going to touch a little bit on city maintenance and operations between the three concepts. Um again this is a very high level overview of what is in the report. The report covers this topic in many pages and I don't have an hour to present that to everybody here tonight. Um, but the main topics I'm going to present on are snow removal personnel and level of service, um, unintended uses of a back of curb bike facility and solid waste collection um, in the city. So, here are the three concepts. Um, very high overview. Like I said, if city council were to p uh pursue concept A, um our public works department would be asking for one additional full-time staff person as well as one additional specialized snow removal machine. This machine being specialized only for snow removal on sidewalk with facilities means it has a very high upfront and yearly maintenance cost. Um, and due to its small size required to fit into a sidewalk width facility, it is much slower at removing snow than our other snow removal equipment for something as wide as a trail or larger width facility. Um, these factors combined results in a very high snow removal cost for the city on a year-over-year basis. Um, and then in comparison, looking at concept B, we would not need an additional full-time staffing person, um, they, our public works department would ask for one additional year- round piece of equipment. This snow removal piece of equipment is, um, usable year round. So, think a pickup truck or a tractor, something that could be used elsewhere in the city that is going to have a lower maintenance cost than this highly specialized piece of equipment. This results in a substantially lower snow removal cost as um a pickup truck can go quite a bit faster than this specialized snow mock snow sidewalk snow machine. Um so this this lower this cost is lower than the existing cost for us to remove snow on the in the corridor. Uh concept C very similar to concept B. We would not need an additional full-time staffing person, but they would be requesting that additional year-round piece of equipment. Um given that there is a sidewalk on one side of the road and a proposed trail on the other side of the road, it would result in faster snow clearing on one side of the road, slower on the other, and we'd end up with a kind of middle snow removal cost on a year year-over-year basis. So, here's kind of an image of uh Cedar Lake Road um after a winter snow event. You can kind of see that, you know, coordinating between a back of curb bike facility and the removal of snow on the street can at sometimes be challenging. Here in this image, it kind of depicts a snow event where the uh city street just got plowed and that snow got thrown onto the bike facility, meaning city staff would have to come back again. Um, this being proposed on Minnotonka Boulevard where we can't coordinate crews between Henipin County and the city as well is going to result in a lot more frequent trips back and multiple passes being needed to adequately clear snow on the facility. Um, and it might be a little tough to see. I don't know if I have a cursor. I do. You can see uh tire treads here um going up onto the back of curb bike facility as people don't quite realize that it's a bike facility. and choose to park on top of it, obstructing the facility. Um, so that's just something we've started seeing with some of our back of curb facilities across the city. Here's the roughly the same area in uh this spring. You can see as well that with the paved area behind the curb here, it creates a feeling of a wider road and can actually um make people a little more comfortable driving as they have what they perceive to be a wider space which can result in slightly higher speeds of travel. Um, and the trees now being planted further away from the back of the curb, you get those vertical elements pushed further back from back of curb, which again can kind of incentivize slightly higher speeds. Um, [snorts] there we go. Um, another thing we've seen is with solid waste collection. Um, on the right side of the image here, you can see that with the snow filling that little strip of grass in between the bike facility and the sidewalk, there's nowhere for the solid waste collection bins to go, and they end up getting kind of pushed out into the bike facility and can start obstructing that facility. Um whereas the larger uh boulevard like you'd see in a concept B or concept C, you can see on the left side of the image, there's a lot more room for those bins to go into that grassy boulevard. And then here, another um thing that we've witnessed is with these bins now placed at the back of the um facility, even if the snow starts to melt like it is in this image, um solid waste collection staff still have to either walk in the bike facility or drag the bins across the bike facility to get them close enough to the garbage truck to collect the solid waste. Um, this can slow down collections and as you can see from the lovely person on the left side of the screen here, results in people driving across the double yellow to get around the fac uh the the vehicle. So now I'm going to touch on the utility undergrounding here. Um there are two sections of overhead utilities present in this corridor. Um the first one is east of Blackstone Avenue, so between Blackstone Avenue and roughly Highway 100. And then the second section is west of Oregon Avenue to roughly Aquilla Avenue. Um there are no overhead utilities present between Blackstone and Oregon. So I'm just treating it as two separate sections in this corridor for the sake of this presentation. Um undergrounding of the utilities is not required to accommodate the proposed improvements. However, poles would have to be relocated to the new boulevard space if they were not to be undergrounded. And this can create situations like you see in the image here where trees get trimmed pretty heavily due to the overhead utilities. So that might restrict some of the species that get planted in the boulevard um if these are not undergrounded. And overall city and county are interested in looking at undergrounding these utilities. So city staff have been coordinating with XL Energy as part of this project. Um we have a preliminary cost estimate from them for roughly $5.5 million which is not included in the city CIP. Um broken out by the section east of Blackstone Avenue is roughly $200,000 to underground whereas between Oregon and Aquilla is roughly $5.3 million to underground. Um this is largely due to the difference in facility on the two sections. The east side by Blackstone is largely residential and low voltage whereas on the west side it is more of a feeder system coming from a substation just has more requirements for undergrounding of that facility. Um this estimate does not include right ofway or easements for utility infrastructure thinking your cabinets, transformers, anything like that. um or the cost for um property owners to hook up their new connection to the new underground line. So if you imagine a building with the service coming up off the roof to a pole that now has to be run down the building into the underground line uh under the boulevard. So in phase one um city uh right here in front of city hall um the city did offer to cover those costs for property owners as that is the property owner responsibility to cover that undergrounding cost for their services. Um, so that being said, the potential increases of cost is roughly 5 to 20%. Um, meaning east of Blackstone Avenue would be about 210 to $240,000 where west of Oregon would be 5.5 to $6.5 million roughly. Uh, funding Henipin County Henipin County does have a cost share for this, but it is capped at $500,000 if the county commits funding to the work. Um, other potential sources would be general obligation bonds by the city or CRFS, which is the city requested special facility sir charge, meaning that a sir charge would go on each um resident and property owner's electrical bill in the city. Um, this is split out across multiple years as only $1.5 million can be covered in a one-year period. meaning for the roughly six million it would be four to five years of an additional rate charge or search charge for electrical bills in the city. Um so city staff are going to continue coordinating with XL looking at utility plans and finalizing costs of some of these impacts. We're going to be looking to get what the CRFS numbers would be if we were to look at that going forward. Um and just generally trying to get some additional information from Excel on some of these numbers. So, um, overall funding the total estimated cost for this project is $39.22 million with Henipin County covering 26.2 million. That leaves the city cost at roughly $13 million. Um, and you can see the funding broken out here between general obligation bonds and the sanitary and water utility funds. Um, you will see that the two utility funds, sanitary and water, are currently estimated under what is within the city CIP, but the general obligation bonds are currently over what is in the city CIP. And again, this is not including any XL undergrounding costs. Um, so that leaves the city CIP currently about $1.5 million short of our current estimate. And we are exploring alternative funding sources um such as the fiscal year 2027 community project funding for the city's share of this cost. Um next steps, uh the June 1st meeting where there will be preliminary layout approvals or not. Hope we'll see. Um final design in 2026 and 2027 and then approving the cooperative construction agreement with Henipin County in 2027 and private with private utility relocation and construction in 2028 and 2029. So, with that, uh, that concludes the presentation. I just want to remind everyone we're here for public hearing and to receive feedback and comments. Um, before you open the public hearing, does city council or the mayor have any clarifying questions for Eric and I regard regarding the report or presentation? [clears throat] >> I saw you first. >> Yeah, but I'll defer to the board members that this impacts. Perfect. [clears throat] All right, council member. >> Thank you, mayor. I just had a quick question on the CRFS. I thought that that applied just to customers in the immediate area and not the entire city, but I think I heard you say that that would be the entire city. >> Yes, it would be citywide. >> Okay. And do you know if that's what happened on phase one as well? >> My understanding is yes, that is what >> Thank you. >> Yep. Um to piggyback off of that, um you did say you didn't know what an approximate cost would or approximate addition null charge would be to >> not at this time. Yeah. >> Um along the same lines of the undergrounding of the utilities, um does the cost that you presented the five million and some change, does that include the cost of paying for the private reconnections? No, >> that was in the 5 to 20% over estimate of those numbers. >> Okay. So, but that would be included in that up to 20% overage. Okay. >> Right there. >> Okay. Got it. >> And that's an estimate. We're still working with XL on getting finalized numbers. Yeah. >> Okay. [clears throat] >> Go ahead. >> Okay. Thank you. Um, yeah, I have a couple questions. uh in regard to concept B understand a lot of the reasons for it. If we go back to concept, could we get that image up with the three concepts just so people can see what I'm talking about? Um if you look at con the there was an Yeah. Why not um with go with concept A and put the boulevard on the road side or back of curb and have the walking path and biking paths next to each other but still separate. [laughter] >> I mean I I'd say um yeah we [clears throat] we'd have to look a little bit more into that. Um, you know, concept B came up again for the being able to go both directions on either side of the road. >> So that was that'd be another reason. Yeah. So that you don't have to cross the street >> to go whatever direction you're going. >> Gotcha. Okay, fair enough. Um, and then the other question I had was if if we do go with concept B, which is basically what we have right out here, right? Um, can we can we do some kind of markings on the path to indicate that it's a shared path or even a dotted lane line or um just because my issue as a cyclist like when this was done I was like oh I don't feel like I belong on this path um because it just looks to me like a black sidewalk. Um so I'm just wondering about is that ever done on these shared paths so that people understand that it's a shared path for bic for bicycles and pedestrians. that that's something we could look at further as we get into design. Um, just speaking from where I live, I know there is a trail near my house that is striped down the middle. Uh, not in St. Louis Park, but like I said, we can look further into that as we get into >> I was just noticing it. I was by out biking this weekend on I was on a shared path and it's all it had was that center line and it helped so much. It just communicated a lot about what this path is and pedestrians were more aware of bikes and bikes more aware of pedestrians than I think um, often. So, that's just one little thing. And then the other question around undergrounding is um there's a cost to putting it in, but are there any kind of long-term savings that we do you get from undergrounding? Like, not that you would have hard numbers, but is there any kind of, you know, you're not going to have to deal with this, this, this, and this type stuff? >> Yeah. I I would have to get back to you on that with some more information. Yeah. >> All right. That's all I had. >> Yeah. Uh, as far as I understand, the long-term cost savings are because you don't have storm or wind damage to existing utility lines and poles, and that uh should remediate some of the power outages that we have in other areas. But, uh, there's also the cost. Um, [clears throat] I'm trying to understand the do we have to make the decision at June 1st on whether or not to underground the utility lines or not? >> That'll depend on how quick I can get additional info from Excel. The goal would be for us to provide additional info prior to that meeting and, you know, have the opportunity for you to provide, you know, a recommendation there. Um, could end up being a later meeting depending on when I can get that information. >> Thank you. Interested in seeing more information on it for sure. Second question I had is if we don't approve any of the three concepts is the project I [laughter] >> I think that's probably >> council member Baldwin just suggested that another concept >> around that. Would they go back to the drawing board? I hope they would. I mean because >> council member Browson I um not to speak on behalf of Henipin County who is un unable here to be here this evening but I would suspect that we would find a path forward um to go back to the drawing board. Uh but that would be something we'd want to investigate further with them and talk about uh the parameters of that to make sure we're heading in the right direction. >> Thank you. [clears throat] >> Any others? >> Yeah, go ahead. Um, so while we have this graphic up, I know one of the major concerns I heard at the open house and from other residents and talking to them about concept two with the shared use trails is safety of both bikers and pedestrians on the shared use path. I know we have other paths like that in the city. Do we have any data around um incidences or or safety um concerns that have arisen from those shared use trails? >> Not directly in front of me. I can certainly look into that and you know get information if we have any. >> Uh I would state to to add on to that uh these look very similar to what you see for our North Cedar Lake Regional Trail and the Cedar Lake Regional Trail when it comes to wits and those uh facilities see um hundreds of thousands of visitors a year and we've uh communicated in the discussions with the rivers park district is that it's they're very safe. they have uh extremely low um conflicts uh on their corridors. Um and so that is kind of some of the data that we're taking from, but we could certainly share more information for that June 1st date. >> Thank you. >> You have a question. >> And can I just clarify on the slide you showed, how um as we talk about should we go back to the drawing board, how many um people have we had input from on this one? One of the slides showed that there. Yeah. >> Yeah. So, 1500 plus. >> Okay. So, that's that's a fair amount of community uh engagement thus far. So, >> any others? >> Oh, I got one more quick one. >> We should note on the three options there. You know, city does very uh the county does very detailed analysis. Uh the cost of snow removal for concept A is literally a4 million dollars a year more than the snow removal uh cost for option B. So in terms of our long-term, you know, they put the road in, it's going to be another 30, 40, 50 before they redo it. So certainly important to think about our long-term uh maintenance and support costs for that uh for the upkeep and uh maintenance of the road as well. Thank you, council member. Any other questions? Go >> ahead. >> Jim's question or note spawned another question. >> Can I Okay. Can I Okay. Just this is a good point to uh come back. Um I would ask at this time only clarifying questions. I will come back to extensive. Okay. We'll come back. We'll have time for more uh questions though. All right. All right. Any other clarifying questions at the moment? No. Okay. Okay, cuz I want to open it up to the public hearing and for folks to uh make their comments. Um, all right. And with that, so before I open the public hearing, um, actually with that, I'm going to open up the public hearing, but before I do that, I want to go over uh a couple of uh rules and and and expectations with you guys. I do know for a fact that three people are speaking, so I'm going to I'm going to go over a couple of things. As a reminder, the city council will not be voting on this item tonight. We will be voting on this on June 1st, 2026. And so with that, I will open the public hearing. Um I uh I should say as you're coming up, hold on, let me Okay, as you're coming up, you're going to stand up here and you're going to see your first and last name and your address. Uh you will have three minutes to make your comments. If you look behind me, you see that white box right there, you'll see that it'll turn green here in a minute. But if it's green, that means you're good to go. Go, go, go, go. Right. Uh, if it turns yellow, you will have 30 seconds. Oh, less than a minute. >> One minute. >> I should know this. 1 minute. Yep. 1 minute left. If it's yellow, you have one minute left. If it's red, you have 30 seconds left. Meaning, you should wrap up the last couple of your sentences and your and your thoughts on it. Um uh depending on um how many of you guys are speaking, I tend to be a little lenient, but don't abuse the power. Don't use, you know, don't abuse it too much, right? Uh so that means um I'm like I said, I'm going to let you finish up the last couple of comments or your thoughts. Uh but you will have three minutes in total. Um your comments should be about the item at hand, like the the agenda item at hand. It should be around and about the Minnotonka Boulevard reconstruction project. If you have something else you want to share your concerns about, we love to hear it via email, via phone call, via when we're out there, right? Uh but at this moment, it'll be on the topic at hand. So, that being said, uh I know a lot of rules at you guys. So, with that being said, my first person up is Eric Judge. If you want to come on up. Um hopefully my comments will bring you to tears. >> Just let me let me start by saying uh my name is Eric Judge. I live on Zenwood Avenue in the Birchwood neighborhood. Uh I am speaking tonight on the uh road redesigned and I'm speaking as an advocate or excuse me as an avid bicyclist. Um I'm concerned about this project as on whole for four different reasons. Safety, economic impact, response times of emergency vehicles, and finally gentrification. Jack, you mentioned that there hasn't been a lot of problems with mixed use between bicyclists and pedestrians. If we go to Cedar Lake Road, if you're willing to indulge me, I'll stay around for the end of the meeting. I'd love to show you some photographs of what I've experienced. Um, I'm training for a hiking trip and several near misses with throttle driven bicycles and electric motorcycles. But let me stop there and bring back to what we're talking about here along traffic lines. The Federal Highway Administration its own guidelines. The biggest drawback behind road diets is they don't eliminate traffic. They push it to parallel roads. And if you look at, and I'm happy to provide all the references for this, but LA to Waverly, Iowa, the Federal Highway Administration has brought forth statistics that show traffic accidents and incidents on parallel roads in Waverly, Iowa, after a 4 to3 road redesign. Parallel roads, the accidents went up 386%. In Los Angeles, after road diets, pedestrian vehicle accidents increased 60%. Now, if we look at Lake Street, we've already had incidents post redesign on Lake Street. I think everybody's aware of that, right? The white pickup and the bicyclist. Okay, we've had incidents on France Avenue. Okay. I'm not convinced and the county has not been able to produce I've asked several times documentation that shows a gridwide impact. They're only focused on the target road. They can't tell us what's going to happen on parallel streets. Streets that are not designed to handle that workload, those cars, those trucks. Okay. Economic impact. Okay. Now, this is where I got to go to my notes. So bear with me just a second and got to get my cheaters out here. >> Okay. So if we look at economic impact, Dinky Town, Ann's Parlor open 50 years. If I look at Palmer's Bar open just under a hundred years. Both of those businesses were forced to close post road reconstruction. The bicycle and pedestrian traffic simply was not enough. It was never replaced. Those are familyrun businesses. If we go to Lake Street and we look at Honda Town, we look at American Rug Cleaning, we look at Yes, ma'am. I'll be right just a hot second. I'm on a roll. Okay. If we go to uh Lake Street, the the used car dealership, those three businesses are up for sale. Let me close by saying um Uptown, we used to have the Uptown Art Festival. After the road redesign, the roads narrowed, parking was reduced. That was the number one revenue producing week for the small businesses areas or excuse me, the small businesses in those areas. And if you go up to Lake Street today, you're going to see boarded up buildings. You're going to see spray painted buildings. So, I'm asking the city council to please ask Henipin County to do a systemwide study. $39 million is a staggering sum of money. >> And I want to make sure that this is the right move, that we're going to be safer, we're going to be better off. And again, I would love to indulge folks after the meeting to show you what I see on Lakes or excuse me, on Cedar Lake Trail. Thank you. Thank you. >> Thank you, Eric. Uh, you were on a roll, by the way. >> Okay. >> Yes, you were. >> I've been practicing all day. >> I love it. I know you were >> in front of the mirror and I >> I know you did it. I recognize [laughter] um I have Dave Carlson. I'll try and talk fast. Uh Dave Carlson, 706 West 23rd Street, St. Louis Park. I've lived there more than 30 years. Um I'm also a member, a longtime member of the Henipin County Bicycle Advisory Committee, which now is called the Minnesota or the Henipin County Active Transportation Committee. And um so uh in 19 in the early 1990s, Minnetonka Boulevard was actually the very first official Henipin County bikeway. It was bike way number five to coincide with you know trunk highway five and uh they striped the shoulders and it made it a lot safer and better biking and uh biking really picked up as biking increased anyway and it became a very valuable east west corridor for lots of commuter and and faster recreational bicyclist. I've biked it maybe a hundred times and I've had practically zero conflict with vehicles because I have space on the road and I can go my speed and uh and it's good for vehicles because they uh can easily pass me. Um so I went to the open houses when I heard about the reconstruction and it seemed to me in the first couple open houses that they were leaning more toward the like the Cedar Lake model uh the the concept A. And so I was saying, okay, even though I would prefer space on the road, uh, I could live with what was going on at Cedar Lake Road because they use that a lot too. Um, but when the last open house came and it it showed that it was concept B that was being advanced by both the county and the city staff, it was surprising and disappointing uh because of the whole issue that you've kind of heard about is mixing high-speed bicyclists with pedestrians and dog walkers and stroller pushers and younger kids and you know any other number of users plus the advent of of a lot speedier ebikes now that are coming more and more. Uh, I think that's just a real dangerous situation. So, um, you know, I would like to to urge the city council and and the staff to um, you know, really look into some alternatives, some of which kind of been proposed today, too. uh either like the Cedar Lake uh trail uh Cedar Lake road uh uh design or even a design where maybe you just narrow the on-road shoulders to three feet on each side. You gain six feet and maybe then put the the two-way trail on one side, keep the sidewalk on the other, and you'd have almost the exact same amount of boulevard. you would still have a multi-use trail for the bikers that did not prefer to be on traffic and with traffic, but you'd still be able to accommodate the faster bikers and not have them mix on on the trail. So, I really would hope that maybe there's some compromise there. There's a number of county roads just to the west of us that have three-foot bike lanes, um, Hopkins Crossroad and Plymouth Road and even Minnetonka Boulevard west of Highway 169. So, I would urge that there's a way to squeeze a little more on-road biking um that would really um really accommodate a lot of bicyclists that you know like me that have been using this for 20 30 years and we've we've had you know very little uh problems. The only real problem lately is the deteriorating pavement with the cracks and the potholes. So, we'd certainly like to get that fixed too. Um, everybody talks about all ages and abilities, but sometimes some of us that have been biking for years, even though we're we love to see more people biking and have those accommodations, I think it's, you know, wonderful many for many reasons, we sometimes get the feeling that it's almost at the expense of some of us who've been biking regularly just to get some people biking more occasionally that aren't comfortable with with it. We hope that they would eventually become more, you know, comfortable bike riders because you're still going to be biking on streets at some place. So, oh yeah, thank you very much. >> Thank you. Thank you so much, Dave. >> Um, next up is uh Mark Mark Berg. Familiar name. I knew I I knew with the bikes we were we were going to get you. Yes. Okay. Thank you, council members. Uh Mark Berg, I live 2913 Webster Avenue South, next door to Sunshine Park. Uh thanks for giving us time. I didn't really have any prepared comments to come here, but I've been following the project. I believe I've been to most of these engagement meetings. I understand this is the county's project, but in some level the city's supposed to weigh in, have some level of influence on what the decisions are. Um, I really did come tonight not being exactly clear what was on the table and what wasn't. Interesting to hear about the um uh utility line relocation. I don't have an opinion on that. I did uh like Mr. Carlson, I did come into the meetings and uh advocated for what was called alternative number um a alternative A and I just did want to hear sort of the exchanges between the council members and staff today. I'm guess I'm a little disappointed the county staff's not here either, but I'm glad I did. And I do like council member your suggestion of maybe we can call that an alternative like a slashb of putting the um bike lanes next to the bike lanes and the pedestrian ways. And I see what are called raised cycle tracks in Minneapolis. I refer to them often as like extra sidewalk and a contrasting color, but the way to keep bicycles away from pedestrians with the additional space. I happen to uh think uh Cedar Lake Road treatment for the most part is very good. Um I've ridden it many times. I've come across other pedestrians and we've been successful in avoiding one another. So, uh, the last thing I'd want to say is that I didn't know if this is on the table or up for consideration at any point in the future of this project, but I do remember going to the meetings and when uh people would be at the uh sitting around at tables with county staff talking about different ideas. Every suggestion, the county staff's uh reaction was, "Oh, that's a wonderful idea. Oh, that's great." They were very receptive. And then I said, "Can we load lower the speed limit on Minnetonka?" Sorry, can't do that. The statute that pro precludes us from doing this. But I would urge uh the council members if they can at some point along the way of this project, reducing the speed on Mitucka Boulevard from 35 miles per hour to 30 would be very beneficial. Okay. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Okay. Um next up is Isabelle Anderson. Hi Isabelle. >> So um my name is Isabelle Anderson. Um so I looked so looking at the three options options A, B, and C. Um my view is that option B seems to work the best um because it is more cost-effective. And speaking some as someone who does live off Cedar Lake Road, um I do like to go on walks. So, you know, if we're trying to apply that to Minnotonka Boulevard and I'm using the walking trail, um, if I live on the north side of Minnetonka Boulevard, it's a lot safer for me to just walk on the north side as opposed to crossing traffic to go to the south side. So, uh, in my opinion, having a walking trail on both sides is better than just one side. Um, however, listening to council member Beashore talk about the concerns some residents have had about walkers and bikers potentially colliding, um, one one idea that I'd maybe consider the council to encourage is putting maybe a grassy median in between the walking trail and the biking trail should you go forward with option B. um just because it would be a starker visual contrast than just putting lines down on the sidewalk. Um so it would serve as more of kind of a a signal to both walkers and bikers um don't cross this. And also as we know um grass tends to slow down bikers. So if you are going uh a bit fast and maybe veer a bit off track um and you hit the grass, it will naturally slow down uh the bike. So I would encourage that and um yeah, thanks so much for letting me comment. >> Thank you. Thank [clears throat] you, Isabelle. >> Okay, last but not least, U. Margaret Rag, who should not be an a familiar or should not be an unfamiliar face to us here in the council. I don't think you need to go over the rules with you. [laughter] >> Thank you, mayor, council members. I thought you were going to say who should not be here. >> You they they just recently let you back in, huh? >> Yeah, pretty much. Yeah. Decided to come back. So, um thank you staff. Thank you, mayor, council members. Um I know this project obviously has been long in the works. Um it was something being worked on when I was still on council and there's been lots of input. Um uh I want to say um this is a great example of the multitude of opinions that council has to consider. Um I am a fellow biker like my neighbor Mark and I'm a fellow walker like my neighbor Eric and I support option B um strongly. Um, I'm really happy with the way that the west side of uh Highway 100 turned out and I've heard others say as much. Um, it looks nice when you're driving down it. It looks peaceful. It makes you kind of slow down. There's a lot of positives about it in terms of uh, yeah, the experience of traveling around it. I also believe that parody between the west and east sides makes a lot of sense for people traveling um, all the way from Highway 100 to Highway 169. I think it would be Yeah, that's just something I want to throw out there. Um I think, you know, I heard support for option A and I just want to emphasize that $250,000 a year um cited as an additional cost for snow clearing and that's uh that's a big deal and that should be uh you know folks who are advocating for option A might want to be thinking about what else we might want to cut um in order to make that possible. I want to say that I am unclear. I it's it was hard for me to access some of the documents for tonight. So, I'm unclear and would appreciate clarification. It sounds like maybe others in the audience would too, you know, when appropriate on where we stand with the roundabouts currently that are part of the potential plan and where um we stand with the RFBs, the rapid flashing beacons, whatever that stands for. Um I will state my strong support for RFBS at every possible at every proposed location. Um for safety reasons obviously and having been again at many of these meetings some of which happened Jack writes seven eight years ago um there was just a lot of strong desire for um crossings at those locations where they ended up being proposed. So hope those can make it into the final plan. And then um as far as my uh neighbor Eric's concerns about uh economic um impact or businesses, I h I do believe that Yum uh is doing great. There's a another business down there called Open Studio Sewing uh that's doing really well. Um and folks are being able to walk and bike to that store. And then um the nail salon there on Manka Boulevard. I believe that they have all seen um positive impacts of the improvements um on the west side of the road. So, uh, yeah, for all those reasons and more, I'm supportive of, uh, the recommendation to staff for option B. Thanks so much. >> Thank you, council member. Right on time, too, with time to spare, honestly. >> Oh, I I refer to you as council member. [laughter] Habits die hard. Um, thank you so much, uh, uh, Margaret. Um, okay. All right. With that, I feel that was everybody. Uh, does anybody else wish to speak on this item before I officially close the public hearing? Go. Oh, come on up. Uh, please say your first and last name. You will also have three minutes. No, I'm kidding. Yeah. Okay. >> I will be It's Barbara Lever and I live at 3030 and I didn't think I'd be able to stay long enough, so I wrote I don't want to talk. >> Okay. >> My worry is and I think the be you know, this is a good plan. It needs to be done. I I tend to believe in >> B, but the other two look great. My worry is the traffic going down Aquella. >> It's going to be a speedway. It is already a speedway with the school there in the morning when you try to get out of your driveway. >> Um so the worry is safety. Um because you know people are going to use it as a detour because that's where the construction ends or starts, whichever way you want to say it. What are we going to do about that? um that that worries me as a nurse practitioner. It really worries me. Um electric scooters, we won't get into that. I do think that some of them are out of control, especially when they're under 16. But but can we do possibly consider a temporary speed bumps? You see those in different streets, you know, something that would go, okay, this is going to not just the sign that says you're going over 20 miles an hour. People don't look at that. They don't. So, my thinking, and I don't know, I've talked to a few of my neighbors. I thought Emily Barker might be here, but she couldn't make it. Um, temporary speed bumps. I mean, whatever y'all think of, but it's a huge worry with children now moving into the neighborhood more. It's kind of making that transition, more kids, which is awesome. That's all I got to say, and thank you for your time. >> All right. Thank you so much. Um, any others who wish to speak on this item? Go. Okay. come on up. Before you speak, if there's anybody else that wishes to speak on this item, please stand up behind this gentleman so that I may know um uh who else. >> Okay. My name is Mark Carlson. I live at 7821 Minnetonka Boulevard. So, I'm right on the street. And uh interesting hearing about the uh saying about the cost benefit ratio because to me option A you're basically having the same sidewalk. I don't know why an extra ve extra snow removal vehicle is needed for that. So that's just something that would I think would need further clarification. Also, like you said, Minnetonka Boulevard is a, you know, it's an artillery street. It's not a side street. Therefore, you do have bikers that are going faster and they are using it for commute and other information, other uses like that. And I think they go into that with the understanding that yes, we're going to go with the flow of traffic on the street. I think that's what should be done on this stretch of road. Also, I I think uh you know, it's like they had the bike range separate. I think I like the way it is now with the bike lane with the road. Make that a little wider. You can narrow the sidewalk and you'll still have a nice wide boulevard there. And uh being that I'm also on the side where uh they talked about underground wiring which I didn't have no idea that was going to happen. Also along with the fact that a tree did fall on my power line last fall [laughter] though I did get power back within three hours. So I was >> that's good to hear >> pleased with what XL did for me there. But uh I can see the advantages of doing that. It's just that I didn't expect that uh I'm going to get uh get with part of the cost for a few years. >> So that's all I need to say. I can understand the idea of on the ground, but uh that was not something I was expected that would be part of this because I hadn't heard about it till tonight. >> Thank you. >> Yeah. Thank you. All right. Um, seeing that nobody stood behind them, um, I'm going to assume nobody else wants to speak on this topic. And now I will officially close the public hearing and then move it back to the council to see if there's any other, uh, questions. I do know I I have a question about the roundabouts, but I'm going to see if any other Yeah. Okay. Uh, question. I know that there was a a comment that was made around uh, what is the update around roundabouts? Do you have any updates for us, Mark? Yes. So, the two roundabouts that were shown at the uh open house, Louisiana and Lake Street Vernon, um both ended up being removed from project consideration due to potential property impacts. Um we would have had to end up purchasing large swasts of property in order to fit those into the corridor. And that was not something that Henipin County nor the city wanted to um continue looking at if we had to do like a full acquisition. Um so because of that they ended up being removed from project consideration. >> Okay. Thank you, Mark. >> Yeah. Go ahead, Council Member. >> Thank you. Um one of my questions was just with the um additional 250,000 that it would cost to do snow removal if we did it. uh a lo well that be like Cedar Lake Road. Yeah. Um or whatever that was. If we did it where the boulevard was back of curb and you had this the bike lane and the pedestrian lanes right next to each other, would that scenario would it still be an extra 250,000 a year? Does that would you need that special equipment if the two paths were were adjacent? Um, if they were to split, that is when the additional equipment would be needed because as soon as you split once, you could no longer have the larger piece of equipment do the corridor because they'd be doing partial bits of it and then having the other piece of equipment come back. So, if they were put together in a wider facility, you know, you would not necessarily need the extra specialized piece of equipment. >> Okay. So if we if option A went that way where you had bike path and sidewalk right next to each other, boulevard back of curb, you wouldn't have that 250,000 >> if it was consistent throughout the entire corridor. >> Gotcha. Okay. Um thank you. That helps. And then the other uh thing I wanted to just address was um just around highspeed cyclists. I'm one of them. I I actually am fine with painting a white line. [laughter] Although I will say I almost got killed by a bus once on my bike that didn't see me and was pulling into stop. Um so it's not without dangers. Um but I just wanted to note for us high-speed cyclists, it's this is hard um because we do feel like we're getting squeezed out because it isn't safe for us to ride the way we ride on shared paths. Um, so it's really difficult, but also I I do believe I don't know the numbers on this, maybe somebody has them, but we make up I think a very tiny minority of overall cyclists. So when we talk about all ages, all abilities, um, I think we it's maybe not all, but we have to look at most. And I think the designs you have here do get at what's probably best for most. Um, but just trying to find ways to make it so we higher speed cyclists can still do the things we do. Um because like this out here just doesn't work and so then should those cyclists be on the road should So those are a lot of my questions and I even had a a resident reach out to me that was had concerns on Cedar Lake Road because a lot of the big groups that ride at high speeds go on the road and then they're clogging up the road and um and so it's just difficult to try to figure out how to squeeze all this together. But I just want to name that and and wonder about how do we do this in such a way where it's it's clear who should be riding where if that makes sense. I think that's one of the problems with a lot of the new infrastructure is maybe better but um we have to we need to learn we have people like me that need to learn like all right where am I supposed to be where do I fit in here is the big question. So I guess that was all I had. I I don't know if we were on comment time, but >> No, I mean it goes right into the the comments. So, yeah. Anybody any people have questions or comments? Yeah. >> Yeah. Um just a clarifying question for myself um and I think everyone in the room. Option A, can I just look for a confirmation? Is not a redo of what is currently on Minnitankka Boulevard west of 100 where the bike lane is on the road. It is a curb separated bike lane facility. Correct. >> Yes. >> Okay. And that therein is where the extra cost for snow removal and um maintenance upkeep lies because it wouldn't be a plow that's clearing it like it would clear now. >> Yes. So today Henipin County clears the bike lane on street. If it was moved back of curb, city would have to clear both the bike facility and the sidewalk, effectively doubling the amount that is required for snow removal by city forces. >> Thank you. >> Thank you, Councilman Bear. Just a reminder for council, we won't be voting on this until June 1st. Uh however, if you do want to say make your comments or maybe say one little one 1212, I'm not opposed to it. Uh, that being said, does anybody have any questions, comments at the time? At this moment? >> No. Okay. Oh, go ahead. >> Just like to say because I want to make sure we get this right. um if that we could get any kind of a little bit of work done on uh examining more what it would look like to have the bike lane and the sidewalk adjacent and next to each other with the boulevard back of curb in terms of costs and safety and all of that stuff because I just think that is another very viable option. Um and if it were on on the table that might be where I would be leaning. Um, but so yeah, if we could get a little more on on what somebody said might be option A1, [laughter] I I would I would appreciate that if that's possible. >> Thank you. Any others? Okay. All right. Uh, seeing none, um, thank you so much. Uh, uh, Mark, thank you uh, thank you all for being here. Um, and thank you for presenting. I look forward to seeing you guys back here on June 1st. And thank you everyone for uh your public comments and your public for making your comments. Um we'll be back here in June 1st. If you wish to know how we ended up voting, we'll be here that night. Otherwise, you can uh watch um online or live. All right, that being said, uh I'm going to move on to the last couple of things on our agenda, which is if I was following correctly, I think we're >> Oh, okay. Perfect. Yeah, thank you. We're at the regular business, which I there is none, and then communications and announcements, which I have none, but I know Kim has some. >> I do I do have a couple of them, and they're all road related, so this group may be interested in their in these. Um, we do have construction starting on the intersection of Cedar Lake Road in Louisiana. Started today. Um, the intersection is going to be closed to through traffic. There is local access to all the businesses. We had a small business um proclamation today. Please do um spend your your time and your money with our small businesses so you can still access all of them. Um there's a a small business map that will be online so you can figure out how to get in there. Know though that the routes might be changing as the construction continues and to just understand that there might be some delays the first couple days as everyone figures out how to navigate through that. And we appreciate your patience. The other um announcement I have is is just a little bit more clarity on the open trails to the rails event that's happening this weekend. Um so there's a community ride to the ceremony. Um this is departing at 10:00 a.m. over in Hopkins from downtown Hopkins. Um you're going to come over, get on your bike, ride over to Louisiana Station, um picking up additional riders, and then continue on to the West Lake Street station for the ceremony at 11 a.m. So, um again, we got community organizations at those three stations along the Green Line or Green Line Extension. We are very excited to be able to participate in that and to have a station featured. So, thank you. >> You I will be there at the at the ribbon cutting. So, come join. Like I said, you'll see me on a bike, which is going to be great. All right. Uh, with that, I >> one quick one that I think we want to make sure we note. Um, just want to big throw out a huge congratulations to David Davis, Mr. Davis, who is the um, music teacher at PSI and just won the Minnesota Teacher of the Year award. So, congratulations. That is a massive deal. Yeah. >> Wow. >> Yeah. Just uh, just yesterday. So >> I think the last person who won was Dr. Steve uh Leanne Stevens in 2006. >> Yeah. >> In St. Louis Park. >> And I know Mr. Schmidz was a finalist a few years ago, but uh it's great to have the Minnesota teacher of the year right in our community and in our school district. >> That's awesome. That's awesome. Thank you for sharing that. Okay. All right. Any others? All right. Seeing none, this meeting is adjourned.