I'm going to call this meeting to order. Welcome to the April 7th, 2026 Local Board of Appeal and Equalization meeting. I hereby call the meeting to order. Members of the public may attend this meeting in person or may watch or listen remotely by viewing the meeting on Channel 8, WCTV, and the city's website at wayzata.org/wctv. Our city manager will provide details uh shortly, but um appeals may be provided in person uh by filling out an information card or by logging into the Teams call and raising your hand during the hearing and indicating you would like to uh file an appeal. When your name is called in the meeting, you'll be seen and heard in our council chambers and the cable channel. You'll be asked to unmute and then you may begin your comments uh with a guideline of 3 minutes. Uh please make sure your camera's on and all appeals must include your full name and address. Uh next uh is roll call. Let the record reflect that all um Board of Appeal members are present or all council members are present. Next, we are going to have a brief presentation by our city manager uh sort of outlining how we're going to consider appeals tonight and then we'll get into uh the list. Ms. Yeager. Uh thank you, Mayor and Council or board members. Um so, I want to go over the purpose of tonight's meeting just in the context of property taxes and kind of our role here tonight. So, as you all understand, like the primary source of funding for local governments is property taxes. Um but the way that property taxes are distributed across properties really comes from two important public processes. The first is each taxing jurisdiction's budgeting process, which says, "This is how much total money we need from properties to pay for our services." Um and then the second process is the assessment and valuation process. And so, that's where um the assessors um look at properties, determine their market value, and then total market value of communities, counties, etc. is looked at overall, and then each property's comparison to the total share is what impacts their individual property taxes. So, the two work together, the total need and then the amount of market value by property. Both of these are public processes. As you know, the budget involves a lot of public meetings, ultimately a public hearing. Through the assessment process, that occurs through some mailed notices of notifications of your property valuation. There's an appeal process, which is worked through with the assessors, and part of which occurs tonight. As you may know, the city contracts with Hennepin County to perform our assessing services. And both the commercial appraiser, Melody Divine, and our residential appraiser, Josh Josh Whitney, and Mike Smid, who's the assessing supervisor. Close close title. They're all here tonight to help go over the specifics of the the properties and answer any questions that you may have. So, I would note there's a lot of great information in your packet that some of the more significant growth we've seen over the last couple of years has slowed down. But I'll actually turn it over to Melody and Josh, whoever of you would like to go first and talk about what you're seeing for both on the commercial and the residential side. Good evening, council. Mayor Molin and the council. I do the commercial and industrial assessment for Wayzata. We have a team in our office that handles the apartments and senior living and so forth. The commercial properties were relatively flat over the past year. You guys have a a total of 130 commercial parcels in Wayzata, and the net growth of the of the assessment was 0.7% over the 2025 assessment. That's net of new construction. You have one industrial parcel and um that was flat over the last year. And then on the apartment side, the there are 31 parcels total and the net growth um net of new construction was -8.7% and the reason that is negative is um the Myers property is transitioning to condos from apartments. So some of those parcels were removed from the total count. Any questions? Any questions of our assessing office? Yeah, what what um when you value the commercial property, are you using sales comparables or you using Do you go as deep as like income value Yes. >> and capitalization rates and all that or and yes to both of those or >> Yeah, typically it's based on income Okay. >> capitalization. We also look at sales, but um there's just not as many sales out in the communities around here. Okay, so you're getting the property owners to give you lease information uh expenses or you drawing your own We use market rates. Yeah. >> So the the commercial assessment, all our assessments are based on commercial rents, vacancy rates, and cap rates. So we don't consider the lease The lease fee value would be the value on the income in place. We do fee simple. >> And um we gather rents through tax appeals, conversations with property owners, and so forth. Okay. Thank you. Other questions of the assessor? Mr. Puckett. Uh these numbers that we're looking at, are these growth or reduction in number of units, square footage of the property? I mean, what is the metric that goes into these numbers? It's the parcel count and the valuation, the total value of all the parcels together from 25 to 2026. >> a dollar amount behind this. Yes. Yes. Any other questions? Okay. Josh, would you be willing to talk about the residential side? Yes. Hi, I'm Josh Whitney, the residential appraiser. Um we had um single-family growth numbers did uh not go up nearly as much as last year. Single-family total growth was 1.5%. Um most of that was due to condos going up 9%. Town homes 1.8%. Duplexes and triplexes half a percent and twin homes went down minus 0.1%. As Melody touched on, our growth in condos was the result of them turning into from apartments, which was the 8.7 reduction was a reflection of our increase of almost about the same at 9%. Um we had this year so far 29 appeals. I handled 27 of them and settled them. Um we have two to discuss my recommendations on tonight. Um they're located at uh 433 Bushaway and 353 Ferndale. But, both owners concurred with my recommendations. And I did have one other caller tonight, literally half hour before I headed over at um 670 Hillside, Thomas Hanlon. He was made aware of his options and we have an appointment for tomorrow at noon. Questions of our residential appraisal. Okay. Um, well, without I'll actually skip ahead to the notice requirements just so you can kind of as we talk about um, all of the appeals like Josh mentioned, um, what's in front of you tonight. So, valuation notices were mailed out on February 27th and um, any uh, appeals um, that come in before 10 days before the local Board of Appeal, um, those can kind of be agreed to between the assessor and and the property owner and don't need local board action. If it comes after that 10-day mark, it would require local board action. So, um, based on that, uh, included in your packet, I'm just going to skip ahead. There's the full list of the 29 appeals. Um, only the top two are ones that we're looking for action tonight and then the third one that that um, Josh just mentioned that was called in, um, we can talk about too. But, um, with that, I'd say, Mayor, maybe we can open up the meeting and start talking about um, these first two. >> Yep. So, I will open the meeting or hearing. Um, if you're in attendance today, uh, or online and you wish to comment on your property, you need to uh, to appeal your property value, please complete a blue card and contact our staff. And again, I'll just read into the record the two that we'll be discussing uh, are 433 Bushaway Road and 353 Ferndale Road South. If anyone is online that either of those properties are yours, you need to raise your hand and communicate with staff to preserve your rights um, in tonight's appeal to move forward to the next step. So, with that, um, I'm going to uh, read the PID address and address of the first uh, item. PID number 081172222, that's four twos, 0007, 433 Bushaway Road, Wayzata, Alan and Stacy Bly. I will turn it over to the assessor for their recommendation. Okay, I made a a full inspection on this property. There were some characteristic changes um in the home. Just a few, but the major change was in um the effective frontage that we uh reviewed again, and that was the result in the reduction. And I'm recommending taking the property from um the initial proposed value of 11,432,900 down to 10,996,300. And the owner The owner does concur with my recommendation. Thank you. Questions of our assessor? Um so again, what was the rationale on bringing down the value of the land? The effective frontage was not measured correctly in our records, and when I re-measured it, that had a big impact on how the parcel calculates. So it made a big impact. I think it was about 30 ft too large in in effective frontage. All right, thank you. Other questions? Uh I just have to clarify for the record that the property owner is not here and you has indicated to you in advance of the meeting that they agree with this uh determination. And I'm checking, Ms. Yeager, there's nobody online to comment on this. Okay. So we bring it back uh to the council. Um and I would have uh someone make a motion to approve, uh deny, or modify the assessor's recommendation of a change in valuation from 11.4 million to just over 10.9 million. Um so could I have a motion um either to accept, deny, or adjust. Mr. Mayor, I'll make that motion to approve as suggested. Thank you. May I have a second? Second. Any further discussion? Hearing none. Uh so, this is a recommendation to accept the uh recommendation that's not being challenged by the property owner. So, all in favor say I. I. Those opposed, that passes 5 to 0. The next um address and PID on our uh agenda is PID number 0111723410034. That applies to 353 Ferndale Road South, Wayzata. Mr. Assessor. Okay, again, this property wasn't fully inspected. Um I did a complete walk-through of the interior. I reviewed the interior quality and finishes and appreciation and determined that there wasn't enough physical depreciation applied to the property. In addition, it is um located near the entrance uh of the Highcroft neighborhood, and I determined that the site required a little bit more of a site adjustment for the um additional traffic at this entrance. And the homeowner agreed to my recommendation, taking the property down from 3,000,000 3 3,032,500 to 2,855,500. Questions of uh Council to the Assessor on this PID and property. Go ahead, Mr. Sworn. Yeah, just um curious. The building evaluation really went from 975,000 down to 703. And this building looks like it's finished grade is over 5,000 square feet above grade or 4,000. It's like 40 bucks a square footage, you know. It just seems very low. The 25 building value or the new new agreed to 20 >> The the the new um The the the number that you've agreed to itself, like the building valuation at $703,000. For a building that size, it's just I'm just curious actually. It's just It's low. Our building values are are modeled and when we apply additional um depreciation for what we determine to be as these homes age to to get what we call functional depreciation because as they age um the market's acceptance to the floor plan, to the um the non-open open floor plan that it has, the finishes um it may seem to you that it's 25 years old is is relatively young, but in today's market in that neighborhood it's um it's going to experience some a little bit of resistance. So, we need to reflect that in our building value. And that's how it's applied is by adding some additional depreciation. Okay, thank you. Other questions? Jump in? No? Okay. Hearing none, um I guess uh and also I need to state for the record the property owner is not present this evening and is not online. Correct, Ms. Jaeger? Okay. So, but the you've indicated that your conversation with the property owners that they're agreeable to the percentage change that you're proposing. Yes. Okay. So, now I would accept a motion to either affirm, deny, or modify the assessor's recommendation at 4 353 Ferndale Road South. I'll make that motion, Mr. Mayor. Thank you. May I have a second? Second. Thank you. Any further discussion? Um okay, so I um all in favor say or actually so we're affirming it. Uh all in favor say I. I. Those opposed? None. So that passes five to zero and accept that into the record. Um now we need to move on to um I guess it was one last time is there anyone that's popped in on Teams, Ms. Jaeger? Mr. Mayor, there's not. Okay, so hearing none then we would need uh a motion to either reconvene um on April 23rd. Mayor, we have one that we have to enter into the record. >> Okay, thank you. >> That called late late in the day. >> Thank you for that interjection. So we have one rec- one that we're going to enter into the record to then be the preamble to whether or not we're going to recess or um reconvene. Okay, I'll um make this on the record. Um a gentleman called me last night or not last night, just a about a half hour ago. His name is Thomas Hanlon. He lives at 670 Hillside. His parcel number is 0111723330024. He wanted to make an appeal on his property's value. He thinks the increase was slightly too high. I determined that we have not made a full inspection of the property and that I needed to do so. So we have a appointment scheduled for tomorrow at noon. Okay. Is that sufficient then for what we need to enter into the record? Um okay. So now our options are now with that uh entered into the record, we would either uh recess and reconvene to April 23rd, that's option number one. That's at our discretion. Or we can forward the new appeal just noted at 670 Hillside um from this point forward onto Hennepin County and adjourn tonight's meeting. So So our option. Um do folks have a preference? Question on that. Like if we recess and then plan to reconvene on the 23rd, but it's settled between now and then, we still have to reconvene and accept the settlement. Is that correct? Yeah, that's correct. >> Okay. So again, our option is, you know, reconvene or we can forward the matter on to the county to address it. Um, and let let let that process take Comment from our commercial assessor. Yeah, can I make a comment as well? Um, if you do decide to recess tonight or re- recess tonight, um, they have a chance to appeal to the county board. So it doesn't just come to our office. They still have an appeal option with the board. Oh, thank you for that clarification. So to your office and then they're preserving >> Sorry. If you adjourn tonight, sorry. Oh, right. Okay, so what you're saying is you're you're just noting for the record that even if we adjourn, there is one more option for them to go to the board for an appeal versus just working with your office to settle the matter. Correct, it's the county board. >> Thank you for that clarification. Okay. So our options are to reconvene on the 23rd or adjourn tonight's meeting and forward it to the county. Preferences? I would prefer that we forward this on to the county with just one property owner. I think they've proven they can make a lot of agreements happen, so it feels like put this in their hands instead of just If I could add something, the homeowner um, doesn't have a preference. He was glad to hear that he has options, so he's okay with whatever you decide. Okay. Um, so we have one one perspective to forward it on to the county. Others want to weigh in if we would just we try to reach consensus of three people that prefer that or forwarding it on to the 23rd? I'll jump in. I I would just prefer to adjourn. I mean, that they had time and they squeezed in right before and they can still get it done, but no reason for us to come back together. Okay. Do I have a third nod? Or a fourth? I would concur with that. I'd agree. Okay. So, we do have consensus at this point uh to adjourn and then move forward this new appeal to the county. So, um I guess I would then ask for a motion to have the meeting uh adjourned or recessed. Um Is that the motion? Mr. Mayor, I think you can entertain a motion to adjourn. Okay. So, I would entertain a motion to adjourn then. I would make that motion to adjourn. Okay. Do I have a second? Second. Seconded by Mr. Plunkett. Any further discussion? Hearing none, all in favor say "Aye." Aye. That's unanimous, so that we are now adjourned and then that matter will be referred to the county. Thank you. And we are now going to go into recess until our next meeting at 7:00. So, I'll close the meeting.