Commission's regular meeting for September 22nd, 2025. This time we'll move to roll call. Commissioner Fiser. >> Thank you. Commissioner Bod >> here. >> Commissioner Britain >> here. >> Commissioner Fischer here. Chair Frasier >> here. >> Commissioner Canal >> here. >> Commissioner Steman >> here. >> And Commissioner Woodman >> here. >> Thank you. >> Thank you. Item three is approval of the of the agenda. I would look for a motion to approve. >> Motion to approve. >> Motion to approve from Commissioner Fischer. Do I have a second? >> Second. >> Second from Commissioner Stuckman. All those in favor say I. >> I. Say no. >> Motion carries. 70. >> How many of us there are now? Uh item four tonight is open forum. This is a chance for anyone to speak to the commission on something that is not on tonight's agenda. Uh we have four presentations tonight. if there is uh something you'd like to speak to us that is not on the agenda tonight. Right now is the time. So open open forum. >> Question. >> Bonnie Matter six. Hello. >> Hello. >> Good evening. Bonnie Matter 6649 in Skip Avenue South Cottage Grove. Um, so are these public hearings and I will be able to speak if I want to? >> Yes, all four of the agenda items we have tonight are public uh hearings. >> Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Any other statements for open forum? All right. Seeing none, we'll close open forum. Item five is chair's explanation of the hearing process. [Applause] The planning commission is a volunteer advisory group to the city council. One of the commission's functions is to hold public hearings and make recommendations on land use and zoning matters. The purpose of these public hearings is to provide an opportunity for each applicant and citizens to present information, ask questions, and express opinions. Since these proceed proceedings are televised and recorded for the public record, anyone wishing to speak must step up to the podium and give their name and address before addressing the commission. Staff reports are prepared and provided to the applicant and planning commission in advance of the meeting. The first step in the hearing will be for staff to present a summary of the report. The applicant will then have the opportunity to briefly explain the proposal and provide additional information or comment. Anyone wishing to speak for or against the proposal will then be heard. Upon completion of the testimony, the hearing will be closed to public comment. The planning commission will then discuss and act on the matter. Two complete agenda packets are available for viewing on the back table. Please do not remove those items. The city council will act on all four of the items on our agenda tonight at their meeting on Wednesday, October 15th, 2025, which starts at 7 p.m. We'll move to item 6.6 A is 6219 Lamar lot split variance case V2025-025 with Sam presenting. >> Yes. >> All right. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Members of the planning commission, uh, tonight we bringing you a variance request from Benjamin Ratzloff, uh, who has submitted a application to subdivide a 47 acre parcel into a 3 acre parcel and a 44 acre parcel. The land is located at 6219 Lamar Avenue and is zoned egg 1 and is designated as rural residential in the 2040 comprehensive plan. City code 1161 specifies that uh parcels in the A1 district may be created that are more than 5 acres and less than 10 acres as a minor subdivision. Minor subdivisions may be approved administratively by staff you using a professional survey. This proposal also qualifies as a rural subdivision under our subdivision ordinance because it meets the three standards for exemption from platting. Um, parcels in the egg one district must have 200 feet of road frontage per parcel. The proposed 3 acre residential parcel would have approximately 447 linear feet of frontage on Lamar Avenue and a 33 acre parcel is proposed to be created and dedicated to the city uh as right ofway of Lamar Avenue for future planning and road expansion purposes. The agricultural parcel to the north will abut a commonly owned parcel with frontage on Lamar Avenue. Since these are commonly owned, this does qualify as legal frontage. Um, however, these two parcels cannot be combined without platting because the parcel along Lamar is platted. The agricultural agricultural parcel is not platted. And in order to combine a parcel that is platted with a parcel that is not platted, a new plat must be done. Um, however, this road frontage does count as legal frontage for the purposes of this agricultural parcel. Findings of fact must be specified for all variance requests. This variance request is in harmony with the city code by logically splitting the lot to avoid future development complications, preserving the rural character of the area, and preserving existing agricultural land. The applicant desires to split the land for familial land holdings by keeping the agricultural land and the residential land separate. And there are several properties in the vicinity zoned R1 and A1 that are 3 acres in size or less. Therefore, if approved, the variance would not alter the essential character of the neighborhood. With that, the recommendation is on the screen for your consideration. It should be noted that a fourth condition has been proposed that a deed restriction or other legal mechanism be enacted to ensure that that 44 acre parcel and the separate parcel along Lamar Avenue are sold together. Thank you. Thank you. Any questions for staff? I do have a question for you. So you it was in the uh packet as well as you said today that there are a number of other uh parcels in the area that are less than five acres and so that's part of the reason why it wouldn't change the community. Do we know if those were created prior to the requirement that a or that uh parcels be five acres or were they also variance requests? >> Uh good question uh Mr. Chair. Um, so several of those parcels are in the R1 district where there is a 3acre minimum. Um, however, there are a couple of parcels in the egg district that were created prior to our current zoning ordinances um that are under that 5 acres um that are around 3 acres in size. >> Thank you, >> Commissioner Fischer. >> Um, I'm glad you added that fourth stipulation with the deed restriction because we don't want to ever make it like a landlocked parcel, right? But how that little strip that's along Lamar, how did that ever get divided into its own little entity there? Or is it does it go with another parcel or how does that figure? >> Yeah, Commissioner Fischer, Mr. That is a very good question. Um, as I mentioned, that parcel is actually part of a plat. Um, and that plat that it is a part of is actually on the west side of Lamar Avenue. So conceivably at some points this was all one big plat. This sliver as I call it was platted and kind of remained as a remnant parcel. Um and the applicant was able to actually purchase this from the previous owner so they could have road frontage here. It sounds like you're trying to avoid replplatting this particular parcel. Is there a specific reason why a plat wouldn't make more sense? Uh, Commissioner Fischer, good question. Uh, so plats do take up a considerable amount of time and cost for an applicant and in this case adding that fourth condition that these two pieces be sold together really will save the applicant in some time and monetary costs when we do see that this sliver again um really does contribute to that road frontage requirement as specified in the ordinance. >> Okay. Thank you. I got one. Mr. Woodman. >> Um, just to make sure I'm understanding it fully as well, the reason for that three acre split is more of just a logical reason that that is the homestead area and we're not just expanding it to five to make up more room. So, that's the reason for the three, not some other random requirement. Correct. >> Yes, Commissioner Woodman. Yes, that is correct. Um, it is the most logical space to split this property as you can see. >> Perfect. Thank you. >> Any further questions? All right. Thank you. >> This time, if the applicant has anything additional they would like to add. >> And sir, if you could just state your name and address for us, please. >> I'm I'm Benjamin Ratzoff. I reside at 6225 Lamar Avenue South. I'm just going to mention this is uh basically to settle my mother's estate and um it's going to be split to her descendants and we're going to continue farming it and there's going to be absolutely no change in the residence use or anything. I mean there's it's going to essentially stay the same. Um, that's about the only comment I have. Uh, just to settle the state of of Francis Ratzoff. So, my mother. So, thank you. >> No. Any questions? >> Any questions for the applicant? No. Thank you very much. At this time, we'll open public hearing on the application. Anyone wishing to speak for or against can now step to the podium. All right, seeing none, we'll close public hearing on the application. Any further comment, discussion from commission? Commissioner Stman, >> thanks. Yeah, this seems like a a logical result here so we can avoid uh destroying some of the tiled property and also maintain the other um trees and other things like that. That seems like this is the the logical thing to do. Um so I I can't imagine not voting for it. >> Thanks. >> All right. Thank you. Any further discussion or comment? Seeing none, then I would look for a motion. >> I'll make a motion to approve uh sub subject to the stipulations in our staff report and the fourth stipulation that Samantha presented with the deed restriction. So that sliver of land stays with the acreage parcel. >> All right. All right. So, I have a motion from Commissioner Fischer subject to the conditions in the staff report as well as the condition that was added at the meeting. Do I have a second for that motion? >> Second. >> Second from Commissioner Woodman. Any further discussion on the motion? Hearing none. All those in favor say I. >> I. Post say no. >> Motion carries 70. Item 6B tonight is North Point preliminary plat case PP2025- 023 with Kelly presenting. Good evening, Mr. Chair and members of the commission. On behalf of the applicant, North Point Development, before you is a proposal for preliminary plat to adjust lot lines on the Cottage Grove Logistic Park Plat. [Music] The Cottage Grove Logistic Park Plat is located south of 100th Avenue and situated along Ideal Avenue. The existing plat encompasses approximately 252 acres of land and has two existing industrial buildings within the platted area. North Point Development received a master site plan and preliminary plat approval in December of 2021 for Cottage Grove Logistics Park. The developer proposed a phase development and a site plan was required to be reviewed for each proposed future phase. The phase one final plat created two parcels for development, dedicated the required rightway for construction of 105th Street, the required right of way for 100th Street, improvements for Ideal Avenue, and four separate outlots. Outlot A was deed to the city and outlots B, C, and D were retained for future phases of development. The phase one site plan was reviewed and approved by the city council in April of 2022 uh for the construction of the first two buildings within the master site plan in the northwest corner. And as part of the development for phase one, private storm water management uh drive access aisles and utility lines were constructed over the lot lines on lot two in anticipation of developing these areas in coordination with future phases of the of the development um that shown on the master site plan. Drainage and utility easements were also established on the plat including areas on the south and east lines of lot two. All parcels included in the proposed plat are zoned I1 industrial and are guided as industrial in the 2040 comprehensive land use map. The request is consistent with the city's zoning ordinance and land use plan. There are no changes to the zoning or uh use proposed with the application and the surrounding uses are a mix of residential, agricultural and industrial zoning. Uh, North Point Development is requesting the preliminary plat Cottage Grove Logistics Park, second edition, to modify the south and east lot lines of lot two of the existing plat. This request is being made in an effort to fully encompass the improvements on lot two, uh, which will become lot one on the proposed new plat, including private storm water management areas, drive access aisles, and utility lines. Additionally, outlot D situated along 105th Street and an abuing 5 acre parcel in the southeast corner of the plat will be included into the proposed plat. Outlot B from the adjacent Prairie Dunes plat will be added to the new plat as well to provide a secondary emergency fire access to the new lot one, which will enhance safety and compliance with the local fire codes. Um, and North Point currently has ownership of all those parcels. There are several easements encompassing utility lines and storm motor areas on the existing Cottage Grove Logistics Park plat to accommodate the proposed lot line adjustment on the south and east sides of the new lot one. The existing 10-ft standard drainage and utility easement will be vacated and a new 10-ft drainage and utility easement will be established along all the new lot lines um of the new plat. Per the standard practice that easement vacation will be reviewed at the public hearing by city council and a 20 foot utility easement over the private water man will also be retained on the new plat. Um additionally public water man and private sanitary sewer continue south from lot one throughout lot A on the west side of the plat within a 40ft utility easement um which will also remain on the new plat. The private sanitary sewer will remain privately maintained by one user which is lot one and will be covered within a private sanitary easement on outlot A over the existing 40ft utility ement. Uh a portion of Prairie Dunes out lot B will be included into lot one to provide a secondary emergency access to building 2 uh via Hadley Avenue. There is currently a secondary emergency access to building two through outlot B of the plat. Given the property owner's intent to ensure that building two can be supported independently, the current emergency access through outlot B is proposed to be removed and replaced with the new emergency access from Hadley Avenue. The secondary access shall be constructed with a 30- foot wide paved surface capable of supporting emergency vehicles and the existing secondary access throughout lot B will be discontinued once that new access is obtained. Outlap B of Prairie Dunes is currently encompassed fully by an electric transmission easement for Excel Energy. The applicant will be required to secure approval from Excel to install the private drive over the electric easement for that proposed access. The original storm water management plan for Cottage Grove Logistics Park include sh included shared storm water management areas um in consisting of three infiltration basins which have since been designed and constructed to include a portion of the future impervious um for the future lots three and four of that master site plan uh to ensure the storm water infrastructure can function independently and no longer outlet to the south. Proposed changes to the storm water plan include constructing a new storm sewer outlet from the existing basin in the southeast corner of proposed lot one uh which is basin six of the master plan and rerouting that to the existing basin 7 and the outlet to basin 7 will remain unchanged as it then ties into the public storm sewer. Uh revised storm water management agreements will be required to be recorded with the plat reflecting that change. With that, the recommendation is on the screen before you. Um, and we do have representatives from North Point here tonight as well for any questions. Thank you. >> Thank you. Any questions for staff? >> I think just uh one clarifier, Commissioner Woodman. >> Uh, this is only approval of the plat, not any of the future buildings or anything like that that will be on there. Correct. >> Correct. Yep. Mr. Chair, members of commission, this is just the preliminary plat adjusting those lot lines. >> Awesome. Thank you. All right. Thank you. This time, if the applicant would like to add anything additional, planning commission, my name is Charlie Cannon. I reside in Chicago, work for North Point Development. Just want to take a moment to thank Kelly and Emily and the the city staff's hard work and they make it very easy for us to do business here. So, appreciate your guys' time and explanation and here to answer any questions for you guys. >> Any questions for the applicants? >> I don't see any. Thank you very much for being here. >> Thank you. >> This time we'll open public hearing on the application. Thank you. I appreciate it. Um, thank you very much for um allowing me to ask some questions. Bonnie Matter 6649 Insk Avenue South Cottage Grove. Uh I just have a few questions. I don't I'll just put the questions out there. I'd like to know when the alternative union uh urban areawide the AUR uh will be updated for uh to include the data center information including the environmental information and when you know when it will be available for review and public comment. I'd like to know if we know who will occupy the data center at this time. I'd like to know how much water will the data center use per day per year. I'd like to know where the water's going to come from. I'd like to know uh what is Cottage Grove's current water appropriation amount? Excuse me. Don't know why I'm so nervous. Uh has the developer requested information on groundwater availability and local capacity? How many megawws will the data center require? What type of backup power generation will be used during outages and how many? And um if you're interested in learning more about any of this, there are many data center requests in the Minnesota EQB monitor right now. the city of Canon Falls industrial AUR in the September 16th monitor is worth reading. So those are my questions. Thank you very much. >> Thank you. >> Yep. >> Miss Mather did provide me with a copy of her questions and so we'll include that in the record for the meeting. Any further comment uh by the public? Seeing none, we'll close public hearing on the application. Um, Kelly, I don't know if you want to come back up and just briefly, a lot of Miss Mather's questions were about a data center and I know in response to Commissioner Woodman's question, um, you indicated that this is just essentially a realignment of lot lines at this point. Correct. >> Yes. Correct. >> Mr. Chair, members of the commission, we don't have an application for a data center. >> Okay. And so maybe that comes in the future, but today the application that we're looking at is should the preliminary plan be approved by city council. >> Correct. >> All right. And any future data center that was going to come in or any new building that was going to be built um would have to come through again for approval for that building. Correct. >> And the site plan. >> Okay. Any further questions by commission? >> Commissioner B. >> So the existing two buildings are they data centers? Um, no they are not. >> Okay. And uh what happened to the original lot one? It's not shown in the map. So it's still a a lot associated with this or is it a separate lot now? >> Yes, Commissioner Bot that will uh that lot will still remain separate um and that won't be included into this new plat. >> Okay. Thank you. Any discussion? Uh, comment by commission. >> Okay, seeing none, I'd like for a motion then. >> Motion to approve subject to the conditions stipulated in the staff report. >> I have a motion to approve from Commissioner Woodman. Do I have a second? >> Second. >> Second from Commissioner Britman. Britain, sorry. Uh any discuss or any further discussion on the motion? Seeing none, all those in favor say I. >> I. >> I. I. >> Post say no. >> Motion carries 70. >> Uh 6C tonight is High North Dispensary case CU 2025-023 with Sam presenting again. >> Yes. Thank you, Mr. Uh, High North has submitted an application for conditional use permits for cannabis retail sales and lower potency hemp edible sales at their existing location, 8711 East Point Douglas Road, Sweet 108. The property is zoned mixeduse business district where lower potency hemp edible retail sales and adult use cannabis sales are both conditional uses. The applicant may continue to conduct their low potency hemp edible sales on site under their existing uh city uh intoxicating cannabonoid registration. Their existing registration does expire December 31st, 2025. All current low potency retailers in the state of Minnesota must apply with the state during the month of October 2025 to obtain state lensure. The applicant then must obtain city registration for their low potency hemp edible sales no later than December 31st, 2025. Um, with regards to the adult use cannabis sales, uh, no sales may take place on site until a state license is issued and a city registration is issued. The city will not issue a local registration until that state license has been approved. The applicant proposes to meet all standards found in city code, including hours of operations, signage, and parking. A security plan was submitted to the director of public safety for review, and all distance buffers are met for the property from schools, daycarees, other cannabis or lower potency uses, residential treatment facilities, and parks. [Applause] There have been two compliance check violations documented by Cottage Grove Public Safety. After the second violation in May of 2025, a fine and a suspension was imposed. The applicant paid the fine and served the suspension and has been working with public safety to address issues such and train employees and update their point of sale system. Public safety does not have concerns issuing these cups to High North as requested. Public safety will continue compliance checks as required by state statute. With that, the recommendation is on the screen for your consideration. >> Thank you. Any questions for staff? >> I have a question. >> Mr. Fischer, >> so High North is in that strip mall by Target. when you I was looking my iPad is frozen so I'm having a hard time getting to that page but with all the different circles and the radius to the daycare center. >> I mean it looks like it's like just right there. So how do you do you calculate from like the front door? I mean because I could imagine if it was down by like where Chuck and Dons is, maybe the radius wouldn't qualify. Like how do you come up with that because it does look like it's pretty close. >> Yeah. Uh Commissioner Fischer, Mr. Chair. So um on this map, so the distance from a daycare is required to be 500 ft and the yellow circle in the middle of the image is showing that distance to the daycare as and it is labeled at it's over 1,000 ft away. So in this map we labeled the exact distances so that uh the commission and the public would know exactly how far away these businesses were. >> So where do you measure? Do you measure from like the door to I mean because it is a large parcel and there's multiple >> Good question. Yes, Commissioner Fischer. So, we measure from the storefront of the cannabis business to the property line of the use in question. Okay. >> Um for parks, we measure from the storefront to the park feature. So whether that be a a dis golf or a um picnic shelter um we're measuring to that specific item in the park. >> Okay. Okay. Thanks for clarifying. I see now that it's double what it the distance that it needs to be, but it does look really close on that. >> Thank you. >> Any further questions for staff? >> Commissioner Bot, >> what were the two compliance um violations? Um, Commissioner Bot, uh, those were age verification compliance violations. Um, the there's more information available from our public safety department. However, um, it's the age verification was either not done or done improperly and minor um during the public safety's um, inspections of the property items were sold to minors. >> Okay. Thank you. Where did you say this information available on >> Oh, commissioner through our public safety department. Um, and the most recent violation in May was available. Our city council did take action um at that time. >> Okay. >> In May of 2025. >> Thank you. >> Further questions for staff? >> I >> I have one. Sorry. Do you want to go first? >> Sure. I'll go first. Um Sam, do you know does the well I guess it it is it city ordinance or does it is it city ordinance that clarifies the 500 ft from a daycare? >> Um Mr. Chair, so it is it's state statute is 500 ft is the absolute >> most maximum that we could go. Okay. And therefore in city code they went with the absolute maximum from daycarees. Um, all of these distances are actually the absolute maximum allowed by statute. >> Okay. And I couldn't remember if that's what we did um when we adopted the city ordinances on it. And is it just daycare centers or does that include licensed inhome daycarees as well? >> Uh, Mr. Chair, it is only daycare centers in business districts. >> Got it. All right. Thank you. >> Okay. My question kind of uh follows up with Commissioner Bots. So the two or the violations that happened, at what point do we become worried about those violations, those repetitive violations, I think you said that the that the public safety department doesn't have any issues with this at the moment, but at what point does it become an issue? >> Sure, Commissioner Fischer. So, um, our public safety director has informed us that they, as I mentioned, continue to work with High North on compliance and everything. If there were a third violation within a year span, it would go back to city council. Um the fine and the suspension would be greater. If there were then a fourth violation, that's when um the director of public safety has indicated that things um such as revoking lensure would be um >> so there is a specific framework in place with time constraints and number of violation things. Okay, perfect. Thank you. >> Any further questions for Seth? Thank you. At this time, if the applicant would like to add anything additional, Ladies and gentlemen of the commission, thanks for having me today. Appreciate it. It's been a pleasure to work with the city on this. Um, it's been a long road. We've gone through a lot with the changing of um from hemp to cannabis and things like that. We moved locations to stay compliant. It's been a treat to work with you all. So, I appreciate everyone that worked on our project. Um, I just wanted to open it up. My name is Tyler Thompson, by the way. I'm the owner, uh, co-owner, I should say. I grew up here in Cottage Grove Winter Park. But I wanted to open myself up for questions, um, if there are any. >> All right. Thank you. Any questions for the applicants? >> Um, Commissioner Bot, >> please. So following up on those violations, what steps are you going to take to avoid further um compliance violations? >> It's a great question. So at the time we did not have any like actual scannable ID software built into our system and that's something that after this violation we did add in two different forms. One, our new cannabis specific platform that we use for our point of sale actually requires an ID to be scanned in in order for a transaction to begin. So what we will do in our plan is to have a vestibial system where the customer comes in. We have a secretary that will check the ID before she's buzz before the customer then gets buzzed in to the rest of the building which will require verification before entering and we also have an audit trail system built into that so we can go back and provide any ID ever scanned into our system and the time stamp. >> Thank you. >> You're welcome. Any further questions? >> All right. Thank you. >> Thank you. Appreciate you. >> This time we'll open public hearing. Anyone wishing to speak for or against can step to the podium. Seeing none, we'll go ahead and close public hearing. Any further discussion or comment by commission? >> Commissioner Segman. >> Thank you. H it seems to me that uh um the applicant, Mr. Thompson, has adequately addressed the concerns that were raised. Um and so that's to his credit. Um that sounds like a very good and safe mechanism. Um I do know that there are criminal penalties for people who um uh sell uh improperly alcohol or what have you. And so there's also those types of um considerations that also will deter like unauthorized sales. So um and otherwise I think that everything else is in order. So, I'm prepared to vote in favor of this. >> Thank you. Any further comments? Seeing none, I would look for a motion then. >> I'll move to recommend uh that passage of this to the uh the city council in accordance with the recommendation of the staff. >> Right. So, I have a motion from Commissioner Steman to uh approve subject to conditions in the staff report. Do I have a second? >> Second. >> Second from Commissioner Canal. Any further discussion on the motion? All those in favor say I. >> I. >> Post say no. >> Motion carries 70. 6D is Greg Cloud Elementary case SP2025-024 with Max presenting. >> Good evening, Mr. Chair, members of the commission. Uh the applicant Koma Architects on behalf of uh property owner South Washington County School District 833 has applied for a site plan review um for additions made to Great Cloud Elementary. The site is located at 9525 Indian Boulevard South. Uh the site is 109 acres and it shares the property with Cottage Grove Middle School. The parcel is zoned R3 and it is guided as uh public semi-public in the 2040 comp plan. Schools and educational facilities are permitted in the R3 zoning district uh as a conditional use. Greyclaw Elementary was approved under a cup in 1990 as resolution 1990-197. The applicant is proposing two additions to the building. uh the first being a 6,500 foot gymnasium which will act as a storm shelter and the second uh addition will be a 3,400 foot classroom addition to use as a special education uh classrooms. Additionally, the applicant is proposing to construct a new private storm water pond which will connect to an existing storm water pond. The applicant proposes to remove a drive lane at the main parking lot. Uh, the applicant also plans to remove 10 parking spaces along the east of the building in order to move a playground near that location. The existing site has two accesses off of Indian Boulevard South. Um the north access is services the main parking lot as well as the pickup drop off sites and the east uh site access is uh utilized for the buses. Um currently there are 153 standard stalls on site. Um city code requires 52 and the proposed removal of parking stalls um will be compliant with city code. staff have observed no traffic issues on site and has been confirmed by uh school staff. Uh the proposed building meets and exceeds city code requirements for uh non-residential buildings and residential zoning districts. The building will include code compliant materials which have been selected to complement the existing building. Um majority of the building will be uh brick glass and prefab concrete panels um as seen on the lower left uh photo on site. The submitted landscaping plan um also meets code standards uh with a proposed eight overstory trees, nine coniferous trees and 19 shrubs required for the proposed additions. A list of trees was provided by the applicant and a significant tree caliber inches proposed to be removed. The applicant has provided that 23 trees are being removed. 11 of these are being significant. This removal will not require mitigation on site. Uh at the time the schools constructed, uh the storm water standards were not as stringent as today's. The applicant is proposing to construct a private stormwater pond on the northwestern edge of the main parking lot to account for the additions and current structure to meet today's standards. The applicant is proposing to connect utilities uh for the gymnasium to an existing private utility connection. The classroom addition will include restrooms and the applicant is proposing to connect sewer services to an existing manhole at nearby Indian Boulevard South as this is the most uh efficient connection for sewer. This will require the applicant to obtain a rightaway permit uh and a sewer water permit with the city. An existing storm water pond um is on the northwest portion of the property. Uh in conjunction, it has a storm water and utility easement with the city. Uh the storm water pond treats public water and over time this pond has expanded but the easement has not been amended to encompass this expansion of the pond as it currently is. city is requiring that the easement uh to be amended um to encompass the entirety of the stormwater pond so the city can continue to maintain it. This pond is somewhat unique in that it treats public water uh while residing on a public property. Normally these are found uh in outlots on other sites. Um non-residential uses in residential districts are not permitted to exceed half a foot candle at residential property lines when it comes to lighting. The proposed downward-f facing lighting meets code requirements with 0.0 foot candle emitted at neighboring property lines with the proposed lighting. And with that, leave the recommendation before you. >> Thank you. Any questions for staff? >> Commissioner B. >> So the proposal u I mean there's a proposal for moving uh playground from one location to the other location, right? Why is that required? I mean, could could they have two separate playgrounds? >> Commissioner Bach, could you repeat that question? I'm sorry. >> So, in the proposal, there is a I mean, one of the clauses is to move a playground from an existing location to a new location, right? >> I guess my question my question is um do does it need to be done? I mean, can't they have just two playgrounds or could is there a requirement to like move the playground? I mean, does it come from a requirement or commissioner commission? Um, no, it's not a requirement. This is something that they have proposed to bring um, and I might invite the applicant up to explain, but the playground is going to be closer to the new classroom addition um, which would be utilized by the special education students. >> Okay. So, there is no requirement to tear down the existing playground. Okay. Thank you. >> Any further questions for staff? All right. Thank you. At this time, if the applicant would like to add anything additional, I'm seeing shaking heads back there. Okay. So, seeing none, unless there are questions from commission for the applicant. Seeing shaking heads up here. All right. Um, at this time, we will open public hearing on the application. Anyone wishing to speak for or against the application cannot be heard. Seeing nobody want to do that, I will close public hearing. Um, any further comment or discussion by commission? >> I'll just say that the application seems pretty straightforward, so I don't have any questions. >> Thank you. >> Any further discussion? Seeing none, I will look for a motion then. >> I'll make a motion to approve subject to stipulations in the staff report. I have a motion to approve from Commissioner Fischer subject to conditions in the staff report. Do I have a second? >> I second. >> Second from Commissioner Bot. Any further discussion on the motion? >> All those in favor say I. >> I. >> Post say no. >> Motion carry. 70. Item seven is approval of the minutes from August 25th, 2025. Unless there are any additions or corrections, I would look for a motion to approve. >> Motion to approve the minutes. Motion to approve from Commissioner Canal. Do I have a second? >> I'll second. >> Second from Commissioner Fischer. All those in favor say I. >> I. >> I. >> Post say no. Motion carries 70. We're on to eight, which is reports. 8A is a recap of September city council meetings with Emily presenting. >> Mr. Chair, members of the commission back uh September 3rd. Um uh if you recall the Roars project at the end of East Point Douglas, there was a culde-sac back there and and a lot that's ready to be uh built upon. So Roars, uh developer uh proposing for that apartment project. As a part of that, uh they needed to purchase actually from the city uh some outs that we had obtained over time. Um, and so I'm excited to say on September 3rd, there were some uh easements that needed to be vacated to to prep uh to to set up for that closing. And so we're planning on closing with the developer towards the end of this month, which is positive news as those folks uh continue to move forward for hopeful construction um as soon as possible. Um so we'll see some activity out there likely in 2026. Um I will let Mr. Olsen uh in a moment to give you some more details, but the council did adopt their preliminary levy on September 3rd. Um and finally, uh we also held a workshop for the final environmental impact statement. Um that has been completed. Um so as the RGU, we do have to authorize um that to be uh published in the EQB. So that will be on the council agenda for October 1st. Um, so what happens, uh, if you recall, the draft environmental impact statement was out for comment for 45 days towards the end of last year. All of those comments have now since been incorporated into a final environmental impact statement. Um, that again needs to be published in that EQB monitor for a 10day uh, final comment period as well. Um, so working towards that date. And then on September 17th, there were two items that I wanted to mention. Uh the council did approve the Pine Hill uh site site plan that you saw before you a month ago for a couple additions to their site. And then uh the second item was they did also approve the Park Grove Library project. So those improvements at the library uh were also approved. So we're hopeful to see that uh off and running in 2026. One thing that I would note uh that I did learn um they will have a temporary location during the con construction time um at the service center just down the road here from city hall. So, I thought that was important to mention. Um, services will still be available. Uh, not as intense, but they will be uh for the brief time uh that the the library is under construction. So, uh with that, I will turn it over uh to Council Member Olsen if he has some additional details to add. >> Well, thank you very much. As I typically do, I open myself up for questions from you on anything that may be going on in the community, and I'm happy to answer if I can. Uh before I do that though, just a couple of items that I would like to note. First of all, uh if you're interested, this coming Thursday, the 25th of September, we have our public works and our parks open house. That'll be held at the public works garage, which is located at 8635 West Point Douglas Road here in Cottage Grove. Uh for those of you who've not been before, it starts at 3:00. It goes until 7:00. We have a sensory friendly hour from 3:00 to 4:00. So, if you have uh members of your family who may struggle with a little bit of sensory overload that first hour, there won't be all the flashing lights and the noises and those sorts of things. So, uh people can still come and enjoy the open house, look at the trucks, you know, talk to our staff members, etc. without the distraction of all of the other goings on that could overload somebody's uh senses if they are sensitive to that. Um there will be, you know, games that take place down there. You'll have the opportunity to uh spend a little time looking at all of the various public works vehicles, including our brand new uh double axle trucks that we received after purchasing 3 years ago. Um, so we're we're really excited that that we actually got those in time for uh this year's snowplow season so we could add an extra snowplow route. Um, but tons of really cool things to do. The parks department will be down there. They always have some fun games for the kids. Um, well, I'm a kid too, I guess, cuz I like them too. But, um, you know, there there's certainly plenty to do. So, I would encourage you all to attend. I also wanted to note that September 15th through October 15th is National Hispanic Heritage Month and we did as a city council. Um we we uh passed a proclamation declaring Hispanic Heritage Month here in the city of Cottage Grove. So we wanted to make sure that we acknowledge the fact that you know we do have a very vibrant Hispanic Hispanic population here in the city. continues to grow and we're grateful for all of the contributions uh not just here in Cottage Grove but across the state of Minnesota and our nation on behalf of our friends with Hispanic heritage. I am not one of those people. Um therefore uh I do sunburn when the moon is out but um you know I have a great deal of respect for a lot of my friends who uh have Hispanic background and I'm grateful that we passed that proclamation. Also today happens to be Rashashana. So, for those of you the Jewish faith, uh we want to wish you a happy new year. Uh because tonight is when that celebration begins. Couple of other items of note just with regard to um policy issues. As Emily mentioned, we did uh have a 50 approval of the 2026 budget with the 2027 preliminary budget. So, what that means is we've set the ceiling. Um we can't go any higher. Uh but we can certainly come in lower if we choose to. With regard to our 2026 levy, uh we took a lot of different things in consideration. I know I mentioned this at the last planning commission meeting as well. Um we took the pole co survey, the community survey that was done and really put a lot of stock into what our residents said that they value most about our community. for example, public safety uh received a 91% uh rating for um something that the the public here in the city of Cottage Grove values. So when we looked at making investments, making investments in public safety was right at the top of the list. Additionally, uh we had a great deal of um approval for our parks system. So naturally, we followed suit and we made significant investments in our parks and our trail system here in the city. and uh of course public works and making sure that you know on those snowy days which we haven't had many of in the last couple years but it sounds like we might this year if you believe the old farmers almanac I should have asked Ben when he was here he knows um the Ben Ben is a a good friend and he used to work down at the golf course and that man has an intuition for weather like nobody you've ever met. Uh I don't know if it's the farmer in him or if he's just gifted that way, but um he's like radar from MASH for those of you old enough to remember when that was. He knows when snow's coming. But uh you know, we we are very glad to know that you know, we've been able to invest in the equipment that we need in order to keep our city safe and keep our roads clear and make sure that everybody can get to work, etc. So with that, I will uh open myself up for any questions you might have for me. >> Thank you. Any questions for Council Member Moren? Mr. Fischer. >> Um, we had a resident talk about data centers earlier. >> Um, felt a little bit out of left field for me. So, I'm wondering, has the city been approached by anybody who is looking to put in a data center? Are there certain I know they're kind of a hot button topic? Sure. >> Um, are there >> in my time regulations in place? I mean, >> in my time as a member of the city council, we've been approached several times um by individuals who are interested in, you know, having a conversation about data centers. Data centers are uh a little bit interesting when it comes to development because they don't generally produce many jobs. Um and they do take, excuse me, they take a a significant amount of resources to operate effectively in most cases. I don't want to paint with too broad of a brush because uh I'm sure as you know as planning commissioners every application is unique and has its own um different details. But uh up to this point, no, we we really haven't had any major dialogue with anybody about a data center. So um that was a little bit out of left field for me too, I guess. But um you know, could could it happen? Sure, somebody could put in an application. Absolutely. At this point though, I'm not aware of anything. >> I feel like it's like when for cannabis for example, like when that was coming up, nobody really had any regulations or nobody really knew like what was going to happen next. >> Sure. >> Do we feel like that's kind of where the data center thing is at? like if there's something that does come before us, are we going to have a framework to be able to >> Yeah, we uh you know, we have a very strong framework for um span of control and and influence around um you know, how a development that might include a data center uh would come to pass. Um it goes through the same regulatory process as everything else that comes before us and that would include involving the planning commission. uh could certainly include, you know, other uh local state agencies, could include the county. Um it all depends on the specifications of the application, of course. So, again, without painting with a broad brush, I feel pretty confident that if somebody did bring an application forward, um we would certainly have the wherewithal to analyze it, uh you know, very closely and and determine whether or not it was a good fit for our community. Um, data centers are interesting as well because um, the people who uh, operate data centers have to have certain parameters in place before they can even consider that as a end use. And some communities just don't have that. They don't have the infrastructure. They don't have the uh, ability to host a data center. So, you know, could we have a conversation? We certainly could, but um I I I can't even speak to whether or not we would be able to meet their needs uh until such time as something would become concrete, which at this point I'm not aware of anything. >> Okay. Yeah, thank you. >> Good question, though. >> Any further questions for Council Member Olson? >> Thank you for being here. >> Thank you guys very much. Appreciate your hard work. >> Item B 8B is response to planning commission requests. We didn't have any from last meeting. 8C is planning commission request for this meeting. Anyone have a request for staff? Commissioner B. >> So when Bonnie was speaking, she mentioned about AU. I forget the expansions. >> Um what is it and can we access it? >> Yeah, Mr. Chair, pretty uh m commissionerbot. An AUR is an uh a planning tool that we use to do uh a review of an area with potential development scenarios. And this particular business park AUR um was completed go 2015 plus or minus and we uh are required by state statute to update those studies every 5 years. I believe the last update to the business park a was in 2022. So the next update to that AUR is in 2027. And what that uh work does uh Commissioner Bot is allows us to uh evaluate from an environmental uh and any other impact of potential development scenarios. Um which then uh really helps us to um I'm going to say complete that work ahead of a development coming in knowing the potential impact. And then we have a mitigation plan that's tied to that study that any development is required to follow as a part of their development. >> Can we access the 2022 AU a >> I'm happy to send a link. >> Thank you. >> Any other requests for staff? All right. Seeing none, we'll move on to item nine tonight which is adjournment. Do I have a motion to adjurnn? Motion to adjurnn. >> Motion to adjurnn from Commissioner Steman. Do I have a second? >> Second from Commissioner Britain. All those in favor say I. >> I. Say no. Motion carries 70. We are adjourned.