6:30. And with that, we will open the planning commission meeting for the city of Lake Elmo, uh, Monday, March 9th. The meeting's open. Uh, and our first item of business is to stand and say the pledge of allegiance. I pledge allegiance 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. Next item on the agenda is to approve the tonight's agenda. Do I have a motion? >> Motion to approve the agenda as written. >> Second. >> Second. >> In favor? I I >> opposed. None. The agenda has been approved. And with that, I should have jumped in. I would like to welcome our newest member of the planning commission, Matt. If you want to just introduce yourself and two seconds about who you are. >> Um, Matthew Rasmmanson. I live over in the Northport development. Um, I've been a resident of the region my whole life. Grew up right on the border of Maplewood and Oakdale. Um, my day job is with the city of Minneapolis with the water treatment. >> Awesome. Thank you. >> Welcome. >> All right. Next item is to approve the minutes from uh February 9th of 2026. >> Motion to approve the minutes of February 9th, 2026. >> Need a second. >> Second. >> Uh, all in favor? >> I. >> All right. The minutes are approved from our last meeting. And that moves us into item number four, which is the public hearing for the preliminary plat and open PUB. >> I think staff Sophia, you're going to start us out. >> Y speaker. >> All right. Thank you, Mr. Chair. So, the applicant for tonight's applications is Twin Cities Land Development. The property owner is Landuchi Homes. The property is comprised of three PIDs at just over 110 acres. It is currently zoned rural residential. The proposed zoning zoning is open space PUD which is an overlay district. The area is guided rural area development in the comprehensive plan. The applicant is proposing a 58 unit single family detached development. The density of this is 0.53 units per acre. And the land use applications before you tonight are prelim plat and open space PUD. So the photo on the right shows the site context. To the north there's Highway 36 and Sanctuary. To the south there is 50th Street, Tana Ridge and Fields of St. Croy. And then to the east is Car Station and Stillwater Area High School. >> Sophia, could you adjust your mic a little bit? It's a little hard to hear you. >> Is it hard to hear me? Okay. >> Um and then just a a note, the last opud the city approved was in 2006. So, it's been a while since we've seen this type of development. So, looking at the zoning and future land use maps, again, zoning is rural residential and future land use is uh rural area development. OPUD is a type of use allowed within rural area development. So, this slide shows the site plan. Again, it's 58 units. There's one full street connection and one culde-sac. The community septic is shown in orange. There is a trail shown in yellow and there is a connection to city water that would be with this development. So when reviewing a premium plat staff is looking at land use and zoning, bulk standards, tree preservation and landscaping, grading, storm water and wetlands, public infrastructure and parkland dedication. Looking specifically at OPUDS, there are three minimum requirements that a site must meet. This proposal does meet those three which are related to zoning must be minimum of 20 acres and under common ownership and staff finds the PUD objective is met again opuds are to provide flexibility in rural areas um while maintaining rural and open space character. So looking at performance standards the proposal meets the density requirements it meets lot design and setbacks. It meets the street requirements. Preserved open space is to be met at 55% of the site. The city code requires a minimum of 50. So it's five about 5% over. Septic design requirement to be met. Um so as the project moves into final plat, those plans will be finalized. They are requesting a deviation for a building standard which is garage facade. City code requires a maximum of 40% garage facade. They're requesting up to 60%. Next is landscape standards. This requirement is proposed to be met. Um we'll get into the landscape architect memo in a few slides. Impervious surface. They are requesting a deviation to 40% where typically 30% is required. This is on a per lot basis. And then trail and sidewalks. They are proposing a puminous sidewalk instead of the traditional concrete sidewalk that runs along the road. So this is a very busy slide, but the focus is the two orange cells which call out two of the deviations that we previously mentioned. Again, that's impervious surface, which is 40% per lot, and then garage facade, which is up to 60% of that front facade. Looking at the PUB flexibilities, staff has reviewed the three flexibilities with this request. The first is architectural standards. The applicant has requested this to meet the resident expectations of interior storage and functionality. Staff finds this request to be reasonable. That would be about a three-car garage. The next item is concrete versus batuminous sidewalk. So, the applicant is requesting this for a contiguous trail system proposing the HOA maintain the trail and sidewalk. Staff finds this request reasonable. The last is the 30 versus 40% impervious surface. Um due to the unique lot shapes and the amenities that the residents expect that is the reason for this request by the applicant. Um if all the lots were to be built out at 40% impervious surface, the whole site area of the 110 acres is going to be about 19%. Just to put that in perspective. Um staff finds this request reasonable. All other items meet or will meet city codes. So these are the three deviations that they're requesting. This project went to the parks commission with their prior developer in 2024. Um, as you're aware, increased development causes increased demand on the parks and trail system. So, there is an adjacent park, Hidden Meadows, which is in the sanctuary neighborhood in the northwest corner. And then there are three possible trail connections with this development. One is to that public city park, Hidden Meadows. Um, and I think it's actually called Hidden now that I I'm thinking about it, but um, the park in Sanctuary. then a connection on 50th Street and connection to Tamarak Farms neighborhood. So those are shown in those three black boxes. One's in the northwest, ones in the center on the east side, and then the southernmost large rectangle. Parks Commission recommended cashing l with up to 25% trail credit. Um again in that meeting from 2024. So this is a very wordy slide. I'm not going to go uh read this verbatim, but other items to cover are landscaping and tree preservation. So, in the landscape architect memo, she notes some discrepancies with the tree count that would need to be revised and then considerations for grading along the northernmost property line to try to salvage some of those um existing trees and scrub that provide screening. Looking at wetlands, there are 13 wetlands on site. The developer is proposing to eliminate two of the smallest wetlands. Um wetland buffer averaging is proposed and staff is recommending that signage be put up around the wetlands um to help with enforcement and mitigate encroachments into wetlands. Looking at traffic access and parking. So 50th Street is a collector and designed to carry a large capacity of traffic. Turn lanes will be required as part of this development. Um there would be a pedestrian crossing to build out that trail connection on 50th Street. Uh that design is yet to be determined. subject to review by the city engineer. Um, and it's looking like the off- streetet parking requirements will be met and driveways will need to meet city code requirements as they move into final plat. And then just a note, parking would be on one side of the street with the this current street design. They are proposing storm water reuse uh communal irrigation system with a backup to city municipal water. That is a city standard. and then those plans would be needed with future submitts. This proposal was sent out for agency review and we have add added conditions where applicable. So the fire chief provided comments on emergency access, signage, hydrants, addressing and street naming. The watershed in indicated that a permit would be required. The landscape architect memo does have revisions and modifications that they are um needing to see before that can be accepted. and the city engineer has also requested modifications and revisions to the plan set before that can be approved. Staff is recommending five findings of fact. Um these are pretty uh standard findings. First is that it's consistent with the comp plan. Second is that it's consistent with the subdivision regulations. Third is that it's consistent with the zoning code except where the flexibilities are provided. Fourth is design standards. And fifth is that it meets the OP minimum requirements that we talked about in one of the earlier slides. And staff is recommending 14 conditions of approval. Uh the first section would be related to those memos. They need to meet those requirements. Then standard agreements, fees, permits, and future reviews. And then specific for this project would be that storm water reuse agreement, um community septic approvals and permits and wetland buffer signage. So, this was sent out for a public hearing to property owners within 500 feet since that is our new standard on February 23rd and published in the paper on February 27th. We have received two written comments. The first one is from Mark within the Carriage Station neighborhood and he provided comments regarding and requesting trees bordering the carriage station property line with some proposed species. The second comment is from Nate with the Tamarak Farms HOA and the HOA provided comments in support of the open space design and added considerations for 50th Street entrance, traffic, vegetative screening, future trail connections, crosswalks, uh their developments, private park area, and water and sewer connections. And with that, I can stand for any questions. And we do have the developer here with their septic designer in case there's any questions for them. Sophia, can you talk about the 4060 or the 40%? >> How was that measured in the city standard? Yeah, >> correct. >> So, it's the linear frontage of the facade. That is a new item within the OPUD code when it was amended last year. Um, so that is that the garage should not exceed 40% of that front facade. The developer is proposing to go up to 60%. >> Okay. >> More of a blanket request. Any other questions for Sophia? >> Um I want to go into a couple of the memos that we received. Um so it sounds like the um design architect, the landscape architect has concern over um grading and then some of the uh trees on the northern boundary. um I guess without walking the site and getting in there and at this time of the year a little difficult but has somebody reviewed and and counted how many trees are in there and what what needs to be saved or is that too early in the process? >> So they're required to submit a landscape and tree preservation plan with the application and that's what the landscape architect is reviewing. Um so there's some discrepancy with the count they believe. So that would get worked out in future submitts. Seems like that's a concern then for Tamarak Farms Farm Estates as well. The tree preservation. >> There is a tree preservation plan. It's it's part of the overall proposal. I know I saw I believe Tamarak Farms and Carriage Station are requesting new tree plantings for screening. Um the northernmost property line is really where that mature vegetation is. >> So So we would still be pending what they came back with. >> Correct. So this is a preliminary plat. they still need to move into a final plat before it can be fully approved and that's usually where um all the final items are vetted out >> and and since we haven't done this for a few years um so explain it would you how does the easement work uh the 55.6% 6% open space. Is that how is that going to be protected against any future development? I assume there's language that would protect that from I don't know 15 years, 20 years from now, somebody trying to develop that. >> Correct. Um, so in this case, most of it's wetland, so it's really would be really hard to develop, but it would be likely privately owned with a city easement over it to maintain that open space and regulate what can and cannot go there. Um, so like trails would be allowed, but no development. >> I did walk the some of the area yesterday and it was a little muddy and hilly of course, but uh there are some really high hills in that area and I think that's something that the landscape person said they have to revise or modify, reconsider the scope of the grading because that does cause erosion and so on. It's not done properly. in the wooded area in the north property boundary and really preserve a lot of the mature trees and vegetation because I've noticed in the past that those have been sacrificed and they shouldn't have been before. So that was one thing and u there are a few others that kind of hit me that there are a lot of things that revision needs to be done. Revision needs to be done from the engineering standpoint and so on. So there's a lot going on here. It's different. But >> okay, there are no more questions for Sophia. We're going to move on. Let's hear from >> I I've got one more question. Why Why wasn't an environmental review needed for this specific site since there's so many wetlands and ponds on it? >> It didn't trigger the threshold for an EAW or an EIS because of the number of units, but it did get reviewed by the watershed and was sent to the DNR for comments. The DNR did not provide comments. >> Okay. Thank you. Uh, could you talk a little bit about what would be normally required for sidewalks? I know they're trying to do something different, but um >> it would be a six foot wide concrete sidewalk. They're proposing an 8ft patuminous. >> It would still fall in the same location. >> Correct. >> So, I had a question in that area too. It said the HOA would be responsible for um maintaining that. What about snow removal? because obviously the city has a policy if it's not concrete, you know, we don't we don't require that. >> So, the HOA would maintain it, which includes snow removal. Correct. >> I just want to make sure snow is part of that. >> I think the other good point that was brought up um I I travel that that way quite often and I do see that there it's there are blind spots on 50th when you come over the crest there. So, that is a legitimate concern for safety. So, I hope that that's further evaluated as well. Yes. >> Okay. We're gonna have discussion still, too. So, >> I I've got one more quick thing, and this is something new that I wasn't know I didn't know about, but I know I always hate to see drinking water being used for irrigation and and it kept coming back to that. You know, they're going to use the ponds apparently to reuse the water, but if the ponds go to a certain level, then they'll supplement it with drinking water. >> Correct. That is the city standard. Northstar um and I think Wildflower also have that same setup. The other option would be to drill a well which is not advised here. >> When Landuic had he had like 48 homes on the same par parcel because he did come in many years ago to have this looked at and there were 48 and now there's 58. Still the same. >> It's gone through a few iterations. since the last one I saw it had more than 58. So, they've brought it down, but it's possible they had less previous. >> All right. Thank you, Sophia. Does the developer want to present? >> Uh, excuse me, chair. uh planning commission benchmmit twin cities land development. You can I filled out a card you can throw it away. I don't remember all the uh little idiosyncrasies of every city. And I have to start by saying >> you're good. >> It's been a long time since the lake. I'm not used to all this space in here more tighter. Um anyway, uh just a couple of things. I think staff did a nice job laying out what our our project is, how it fits and doesn't fit within the requirements of uh the open space development. I just wanted to touch on a few things and why we did it. And um you know when this came through the concept plan came through it's probably 18 months ago now under Landuchi. It was very similar to what you see here. I think they did have 59 or 60 lots at that time. But one of the things that that concept plan had is it was encroaching on the 100 foot setback to the boundaries. So one of the requirements of the OPD is 100 foot setback from all your kind of exterior boundaries. We worked hard to get away from that. One of the things that I really was that was important to me is if we're going to require flexibility, let's just have that flexibility be within our own boundaries and not affect other people. So, we are outside of all those 100 foot setbacks. One of the things that came up in one of the letters that was submitted talked about the trail that we've got on our far easterly boundary um with Tamar Farm Estates. And I will tell you, I'd love to not have that trail there. Um, I'd love to see that trail be part of our trail network that is along the road and then goes up and connects. We put that trail there because it it is shown a trail connection to Tamarack Farm Estates. If they don't want a connection, I don't need a connection. I'd love to move that trail. So, for what it's worth, if that is an issue for people, we'd love to see it not be there. If it's there, no problem. That's what we've got shown. um relative to the the three points of flexibility, we are asking for the batuminous trail versus the concrete sidewalk because I really see this as you we've got a lot of trail, we've got a lot of connectivity and in my mind sidewalks, at least for me, I feel like I don't ride my bike on a sidewalk. And I like the kids on the trail. Um where I live, we don't have a good trail off the road. And so I just think that a an 8ft trail welcomes people to ride their bikes on it versus just walking. That's why we ask for that flexibility. It's not for any other reason than that. And yes, our HOA recognizes that we'll then have to plow the the snow on that trail, and that's fine. Um, the other one is relative to the facade. Uh, the way that your ordinance reads, it is straight linear 60 versus 40. And with a lot of the new style of houses, they kind of got house that goes over the top of the garage. So, this garage doesn't feel like it did maybe some years ago where it stuck way out and really felt like just a garage. But we certainly see in lots of this size that people want a oversized threecar garage or even a fourc car garage. And again, from my perspective as the land developer and and seller of the lots, I like to people have a big enough garage so they keep their stuff in the garage and not have it out in the yard or in the driveway. Um, and so that's why we're looking for that flexibility. We did submit to the city some of the house plans showing that if you counted it on a kind of front facade square footage, we'd more than meet it, but when you just count lineal footage, um, we don't. But I think if you see the plans that we've submitted, uh, well, we submitted something else that showed those specific garage counts as well. >> Okay. Because the way I look at this, I don't think any of these are beyond more than 50%. >> No, we've got somewhere again, if they go to a fourc car garage, that's when we run into the the issue. And so, we submitted something showing how that is. And then, uh, third point is the 40% impervious. As Sophia said, I mean, we certainly would never imagine a majority of the lots needing 40% impervious, but we've got some that are probably going to. And so, we want to uh provide that so people can have the swimming pool or have the deck that they want um and would expect in a a development of this type. But overall, not only if you count all the open space, we'll be at 19% or less, but even if you counted all the lots together, I can't imagine our average would be much more than 30%. It's just on an individual lot basis. I would anticipate there's going to be some lots that need to exceed that 30%. That's why we're requesting that. Um, other than that, we're excited. I mean, we think this fits well within the neighborhood. We think it fits well within, you know, generally what Lake Elmer's looking for. I have to tell you, I learned something new. I can't believe this is the first one you've heard since 2006. So, >> we've heard them. They haven't made it. They haven't made it all the way through council. >> I'm hopeful it'll be the first one you've approved since 2006. Um, anyway, that was all I had to say with that. Happy to stand for any questions if you've got them. Uh, I understand your point on the asphalt. I just want to know, have you lived in a house with an if have you been on a property with an asphalt path in front of it that cuts through your yard and what it looks like in five years? >> Certainly, there's some pros and cons and I will tell you that's one we're not going to die on that hill, right? If you guys say you want to be concrete, concrete it'll be. >> Where would you um where would you rather see that trail than on that east boundary? Where where were you speaking of of >> I would run it? So, uh, I'd love to have a pointer, but I don't Do I have a pointer? Oh, can I use this? I'm not technologically advanced here. >> So, >> there you go. >> It's shown right here. So, you can >> I would love to see it just run, you know, if we were going to do batuminous trail to have it run up this road. We're going to have a batuminous trail on that road already and then have it connect here. still run down the road but >> concrete sidewalk >> or concrete sidewalk. Yes, of course. Um I just see the two of them being a little redundant and again the reason we put it there was for the connection to Tamar Farm Estates if if that isn't desired. I'd love to eliminate it but again not a hill we're going to die on. >> Excellent. >> Do you know what lots would require the impervious? >> Don't know exact. I mean it would depend on who wants a pool or whatever it might be, right? It just certainly there's some that are smaller than others. >> Yeah. I and I think my concern is to blanket and say everybody can be 40%. Yeah. >> I would rather my thought is to dive down and go you identify the lots that you want this variance on and we can apply that and put that in >> and we were certainly that was something we talked about staff. We're certainly open to that idea. I think one of the challenges for staff is um trying to administer that and so we're open to that identifying the ones that can exceed it. Um, and we haven't done that currently, but >> Right. >> but we'd be open to that idea as well. >> Our staff and your staff when they're selling the property so that they know. >> Understood. >> Would the HOA be open, Excuse me. Would the HOA be open to having a gravel trail versus paved? >> Have you spoken to them about that? Because that would eliminate some of the impervious and I think it would be a way nicer product. >> Personally, across the lots, you're saying? >> Yeah. Yeah, the trail would just be a gravel trail with wild flowers on each side running along the back. And >> so if you're if you're speaking of the yellow trail, >> I'm certainly open to that idea. I would not want that instead of a concrete sidewalk or a batumous trail. I wouldn't want that along the road, but in terms of for the yellow trail, >> I'd be certainly open to that idea for sure. >> Mr. Chair, just a reminder that the trail proposed meets the city standards. So if they're proposing gravel, that would be a >> standard needs to change. >> Correct. Gravel is also seen as impervious. >> It's seen as impervious. >> It is impervious. And then just another note, if they are removing that segment from 50th Street and then connecting it where those two trails are very close to each other, another PUD flexibility may be needed since the city code requires a trail the same length as the center line of the road. So if they're removing a segment, >> right, >> it wouldn't meet. Plus, it would also only increase the amount of impervious service in a good number of those lots because you go from a 6ft sidewalk to an 8ft sidewalk. It would also, just looking at this map, start to impact the parking spaces available because you're taking away two feet of the parking spaces available for each lot. So, you may have to look at house setbacks, >> right? >> Yeah, we're I'm not valid point. We think we've got plenty of depth there. But again, we we gave you our reasons for how we think it made sense and not one that we're gonna die on for sure. >> With that, I'll sit down. If you have more questions for me, happy to answer. Thank you. >> Do you have anything in the landscaping in regards to top soil depth? Being that we are looking at using the storm ponds with a city backup and water resource, that u shallow top soil depth leads to much more aggressive irrigation. Yeah. And I standing here I don't know what we've got for Yeah. You guys can help me. >> Good question. >> Hi, I'm Mitch Johnson lar engineering civil engineer on the project. I am not the landscape architect but on this site specifically since we're doing so much mass grading. There's going to be I mean we're going to have to strip a lot of to top soil currently. Typically what we put down is 6 in. But if it was a concern, we would have the ability to put down more just due to the amount of top soil that we brought up and the variation in thickness of top soil throughout the site. Because we have parts of the site that have 6 in of top soil and then parts of the site that have 2 feet of top soil. And when you're mass grading, you typically don't ever put back 2 feet of top soil. So there should be an abundance of top soil on the site. And then that would obviously we'd have specifications requiring the quality and like removal of rocks or unwanted items within the top soil. And they also require uh pH testing on the top soil for you know uh grasses or or even like planting media so to make sure it grows properly. >> Yeah. Would there be any change in HOA rules regarding flexibility for lowwater use lawns? Because I know a lot of the HOAs basically state it is a turf lawn. And while the state recognizes um be lawns or other low water impact lawns, many HOAs do not recognize that as an acceptable alternative. >> Yeah, I I got to tell you, it's a thorny issue for me. I'm I'm on board with all of it. I hate how much we water. the comment earlier about um storm water reuse and then we connect to city water. I'd love to say we're not doing that, right? But then the residents all call me and then they ultimately call you and complain. So, we're certainly open to that idea. Um and I think we've got our HOA docs being drafted. Certainly something I'd be open to including that we've got some can have some alternatives that would be allowed because we've got to do something different in how we use water. I couldn't agree more >> and the alternatives on the grass and so on. I mean we are working with the University of Minnesota on different new types of grass and so that are more more uh tolerant. >> Certainly open to that as part of our HOA docs and our uh architectural requirements. So then one of my favorite questions is before we get into the public meeting is have you talked to the neighbors? >> Uh we have we did not have a neighborhood meeting. Did we? No, we did not have a neighborhood meeting. Uh sometimes when I'm here I wish we would have but I I I generally air on the side of having more neighborhood meetings than >> I I get it. >> Not and sometimes we don't do as good a job. >> Sure. No. All right. >> All right. I this is not as controversial as the previous plan that had come through >> and I think that's why we thought that >> you weren't look you're not looking for a lot of variances >> right that's why maybe we didn't place maybe as much as importance on it >> okay thank you >> I'll sit down thank you >> thanks >> any other questions and before we move into the public hearing >> all right with that it's uh 7 o'clock and we will open the Oh I need A motion to public open the public hearing. Thank you. >> I'll make a motion to open the public hearing. >> Second. >> Second that. >> All right. In favor? >> I. Done. >> And it's 7:01. We will open the public hearing. I will I've got three names in front of me. Um and when I call you up, ask that you present your name and your address and we will give you six minutes uh to speak because I'm generous. That's probably longer than we have in the past, but uh six seems right. And uh when we get down to a minute, I'll let you know you got a minute left. But know that it's your time to talk to us. Tell us what you think, but it's we're not here to answer your questions. It's not a two-way conversation. Um and if there's anyone else that I've got three right now, all we do is ask that you fill out the sheet in the back and hand that Sophia and she'll run it up here for us. So, first person I have is Nathan Campbell. >> I am Nathan Campbell. My address is 5308 Lynen Trail North. Um I'm in the Tamarack Farms Estate um neighborhood. I'm the current HOA president. Um, as far as the plan, you know, we we appreciate certainly Sophia, uh, the communication that that you've had and answering our questions. So, thank you for that. Um, I think as far as that trail goes, if the sole purpose of that was the connection to our neighborhood and removing that is something that we would um we would be open to or or would appreciate. But I guess in general uh conversation between the neighborhoods is something you know we we'd also welcome um if that's something you wanted to do. Certainly uh the main I I solicited comments from our neighbors and the main concern from our neighborhood is certainly safety on 50th. That crossing at the top of the hill um going from our neighborhood across to the Fields neighborhood on the south side of 50th is is pretty unsafe. I think a lot of people have concerns with cars coming up and kids or people with dogs crossing and then coming down the hill. It's pretty steep. You know, there's slippery conditions. The proximity of the entrance to the neighborhood is is potentially concerning as well with cars entering and exiting and cars going east west um down that hill. So, just something of note. I know that's in the comments. Um I I I don't have anything further, I guess, at this time. So, >> all right. Thank you, Nathan. >> Thank you. >> Uh, next I have Neil Krueger. >> Hello. I'm Neil Kger, 4452 Lake Elmo Avenue. Um, this is a a farm that I'm very familiar with. It was actually some of my relatives going back, the GCL family, and I know it's been uh many proposals over the years for it. So, one of my big concerns is the the scenic beauty of it. Uh Sue's walked it. I encourage you to walk it before it gets developed because it's really a nice oak ridgy area with many wetlands and it's it's very very scenic right now. One of my main concerns is on the east side there's a tamarack swamp and as you know we don't have a lot of tamaracks around here and tamaracks are unique trees because they very susceptible to change or disturbance and so my main concern is that that tamarack swamp gets protected and uh so it can continue uh for years to come. Thank you. >> Thanks Neil. Thank you. And last up, Ben Schmidt. >> Oh, >> well, you didn't need to. Oh, you're welcome to come up and speak again. >> Someities made you fill it out or you can't talk. >> All right. >> Do you guys want to read the two into the record? >> Yep. >> Yes. Let's do that, please. Um, anyone want to volunteer to read? >> It's a nice long one. >> Okay, you just want me to start at number one? >> Uh, that'd be great. Let's go ahead and read just read the whole thing out loud. >> Number one, traffic safety and site access on 50th Street North. The primary concern among our residents is the proposed entrance on 50 50th Street North. The current placement of Granvia, how do you say that? >> Grandvia. Gran Via Preserve. >> Gran Via Preserves entrance near the base of the hill presents significant safety risks. Additionally, westbound traffic on 50th Street North has a blind zone at the Hills crest and drivers may have insufficient reaction time to respond to vehicles entering or exiting the new development, particularly during winter months when the road conditions are slick. mitigants such as moving the entrance farther to the west, limited sight distance signage, flash warning lights, or speed re reduction zone near the intersection of Lynen Trail and 50th could minimize the increased risk of collisions and improve pedestrian safety. Additionally, there is a real scenario where people will utilize the neighborhood to travel north and south on Manning through neighborhoods instead of going and using Lake Elmo Avenue to 36 to Manning or Manning to 36 to Manning. Our concern here would be speed and safety in the event of increased traffic. Privacy preservation. A portion of the bike path in Grand Villa Preserve is proposed to run along the west boundary of our development. We understand that there will be tree plantings on the west side of the bike path that will provide some visual separation from the lots adjacent to the bike path in our neighborhood homes along our west border. If possible, we'd request increased tree plantings along our west border for greater visual separation from the lots going in that area. Neighborhood connectivity. At this time, our neighborhood is not ready to commit to a bike path connection to the Grand Via bike path as shown in the plans. We understand that the city would need to complete this connection. We'd request more time to discuss this possibility with the HOA and weigh the impacts of the connection. Please keep our development informed if possible to the planning process regarding the connection. Regarding the path connections along 50th, we'd strongly encourage the city to consider completion of the existing trail gap at the bottom of the hill and the installation of two designated crosswalks. one at the top of the hill and one at the bottom to protect to protect protect pedestrians from the increased vehicle volume when crossing. From experience, the crossing at the top of the hill is blind and requires pedestrians to cross 50th based mainly on the sound of oncoming traffic. At time cars are traveling well over the speed limit. And even when traveling at the speed limit, crossing 50th into and out of Fields neighborhood at the top of the hill or into Tano Ridge at the bottom of the hill is very unsafe. Private amenity uh amenity impact and maintenance. The Tamarack Farms Estate Oval is a private green space owned and maintained solely by our HOA. Based on our review of the plan's proposed development appears to lack its own central park or open space and rather create a connection to St. Croy Sanctuary Park. While the established connection to St. Cro sanctuary park seems very logical. It is highly likely that the new residents will use the TFHA private property for broader green space. Should a direct connection be forced, we'd have concerns that the maintenance and upkeep due to increased use would pref uh and would prefer involvement in that decision if possible. Utilities and long-term planning. As the city evaluates infrastructure for this new site, we ask consideration for the following. Sewer. We understand that the development will not be on city sewer. However, they are leaving space along the water lines to connect to city sewer in the future. If that plan comes to fruition, we'd welcome the discussion to connect our neighborhood to city sewer as well, utilizing the same contractors and same timeline as the Grand Via development and could reduce the financial burden on the residents. Second, water. Given the planned connection to the city water for the new development, will there be future plans to require our house our households to join city water? In conclusion, we appreciate the opportunity to provide this input. Our goal is to ensure that this new development integrates into the existing landscape without compromising safety. We are grateful that the development is planned as an open space planned unit development that will preserve wetlands, wildlife corridors, and habitat similar to our neighborhood. We look forward to discussing these points further at up at the upcoming hearing on the 9th. >> Thank you. >> Would any volunteers to read the other email? >> Thanks. >> Okay. Uh Sophia, thank you for your time yesterday. Pleasure to meet you. Discuss the preser the preserver plans. My input is as follow. suggest request trees along Kerry Station property line which borders Grand Villa preserve. Some of this border is near a wetland swamp area. Trees for consideration this area include evergreens, black spruce, white spruce and balsam fur. Deciduous tamarak, speckled alder, black cherry, downey service berry, ironwood, swamp white oak, and black widow willow widow. Oh my goodness. Anyhow, thank you for the opportunity to provide input at this preliminary stage with gratitude Mark Zetsity and Connie Ospec carriage station homeowners. >> All right. Are there any other public comments? >> I didn't fill out. >> Step up. I know who you are. Yeah, >> but you still need to introduce yourself and tell me where you live. >> I mean, I don't have much complaints with it. 10 acres. Danny Danny Hecker. I have the 10 acres there at on Lake Elmo have or off 50th >> just to clarify Danny's got this property that's surrounded by this development. >> Thank you. >> So I think it look I think the development looks good. We've seen other iterations of this and I'm I'm I have very little complaints, but just would love to see some consideration, landscape consideration on the on our side, especially those two points there where the um on the back on the um north side where the where the road comes closest to our land and then where it dips down on the west side. So, that's all I've got. >> Thank you, Danny. All right. If there are no other public comments, we will close >> motion. >> Oh, I need a motion to close the public hearing. >> I move we close the public hearing. >> Second that. >> In favor? I. >> All right. And with that, at 7:11, we will close the public hearing. Next, we need uh a motion to discuss. >> I'll make a motion to discuss the >> Well, we >> that move to recommend No, not approval. I just want to discuss >> that's that we need to move to do that and then we can have a discussion on it. >> Recommendation to council for conditional approval. >> Susie, can I have you speak up far into the mic? Thank you. >> Okay. just have our our planning commission make a recommendation to the city council for a conditional approval. >> Is that what you're saying? >> Okay. I think we want let's let's start with the recommendation that's on the table and then we can discuss and adjust it from there. >> So move to recommend approval of a prelim preliminary plat and PUD requested by Twin Cities Land Development on the subject property based on the findings of fact and the recommended conditions of approval listed in the staff report. Okay. >> Do I have a second? I'll second. >> Second. >> All right. Discussion. >> I' I'd like to hear more about the um the wetland of concern because that seems like that keeps coming up with the trees. >> Um do you know whereabouts that is located on that west side of the property there? Looks like there's two wetlands that are delineated out. >> Correct. So, my understanding is there's the Tamarak fog around this general area and I can let the developer speak to their review specific review of those wetlands. >> Is it possible to pull up that sheet from their proposal from their packet? >> Um, I don't have this the >> the packets on >> packet pulled up. Correct. >> It's there. And every trees there's a great tree survey, but my eyes aren't reading that tonight. >> Yeah, I couldn't see that. That's a zoom in. Geez. Ben, do you want to come up? Can you talk about the wetlands and the preservation that's surrounding that? I >> think that's going to be an ongoing concern. >> Yeah. >> And I would say not just the trees, but the intens the grading that >> the grubbing and the grading. >> Yeah. >> Yeah. Certainly in general, I mean the again as as was discussed earlier, we've got two little wetlands that we've got to clean out of there, but beyond that, all the other wetlands are, you know, no touch, right? We're not touching them. We're not grading into them. We're staying away from them. There'll be wetland buffers that are maintained from those. Um, you know, I know on this uh kind of our southeasterly Oh, I'm going to do this again. Here we go. down in here, which is where I think we're talking. I know we've got a retaining wall along part of this in order to make sure that we stay back from that wetland. So, we certainly we certainly don't anticipate any impacts of those wetlands. Um, I mean, we just don't. >> And if the landscape architect is requiring something as a condition, that'll need to be met. >> Correct. >> Is that correct? >> Okay. And I and I guess the other thing that maybe add is I know so there was talk about the trees up along here >> and again this was one of those areas where we wanted to make sure that we maintain that 100 foot um setback. Now that doesn't mean we can't grade in that area. Right. I think that's what the point of the uh city staff was is hey we appreciate you're staying out of it. Let's figure out how we can make sure we're not great in there. We're obviously open to that. You know what I mean? If there's if we've got to make a couple tweaks up there to make sure that we're staying out of the trees to the best of our ability we'll we'll do that. I mean, I want to keep the trees as much as anybody. >> I think the neighbors definitely want to >> the Tamarack swamp and the and the specifically on your map. Where is this area specifically? >> So, I think where we're talking about is down in here >> down that way. >> There's that plan. >> That's that one. Okay. Some of it's in the 100 um foot buffer a little bit, >> but you're saying on lots 10, one, let's see, is that 11 or 12 on the end there? Those there's going to be a retaining wall behind there. Yeah, there's a retaining wall. I can't tell you exactly where it is, but it's along here somewhere. That again was so that way we didn't have to grade any further. Um, so we're certainly doing what we can to stay out of those wetlands and including not having to grade too close to them. >> So I I feel good about I mean obviously devil's in the details with staff, but I feel good about what our plan is in order to preserve those areas. >> Are the houses and the lot sizes in this new development very similar to the sanctuary? Yeah, I mean I >> go ahead. >> Uh, Sanctuary is also an open space PUD. Sanctuary has more units. I think it's on about 118 acres. Um, lot size. They might be slightly larger. >> Thank you. >> We're certainly in keeping with the spirit of what the neighborhoods are around us. I feel I feel very comfortable in saying that. Now several people and some of the documents we had I had a question on the on the community land septic systems you know how are there issues with that or um there have been some issues with some of the the different ones that have been either been done improperly or they didn't have the right percolation and the right soils. So you've already done this soil. >> So sorry. So certainly there community septics have been around for a long time. There have been ones that haven't gone well and others that have. At the end of the day, I can't say much other than we've hired the right guy to put the plan together and ultimately, you know, what what you've got in front of you says there's going to be a community septic there. We've done enough of the background work to know that it can work. There's still things that we have to do and permits that we have to get in order to make sure it's going to work. Right. And that that that killed the last open PUD that came through >> was they correct >> their septic couldn't they when they did the borings and the analysis they couldn't put a septic in >> so that's still to come right >> we again we've done all the kind of pre-work but you're right until we're until we're done with it and it's blessed and we've got the permit >> you know you want to commit all those funds before you know you're going to go down that path >> 100% >> right right >> without having to use a magnifying glass and then the the the lots that are backing up to the community system there. Will there be additional trees or buffers for them so they're not looking out? Yes. >> Yeah. Yeah. So, actually, I mean, what I think we'll probably end up doing is there'll be a little fence along there, you know, kind of a pretty split rail fence and then some landscaping as part of it for two reasons. One, we don't want people to annex that area into their yard and start think it's part of their yard. And two, yes, to be a buffer. >> Yeah. >> And I've got a quick question. With the sanctuary, they really worked with the land. It didn't look like they did a tremendous amount of grading. And yet you mentioned about having to do significant grading. >> Yeah, I mean we are definitely still working with the land, but there's real grading that has to be done. I mean the fact of the matter is this thing really rolls and in order to make all the things work that we need to have work, we've just got to do some grading. So there's 55% of this that plus or minus a little bit that we're not going to touch, right? It's open space. We're not going to touch it outside of putting the trail and that kind of stuff. But in that other 45% I mean we do have to do some grading out here. >> Is it more than I'd love to? Yeah, maybe. I mean we've just got a couple touchdown points that we've got to make work right between the different streets. And the fact is we've got some neighbors that are already around us and so we've got to kind of blend in with them. And so it is just maybe a little more grading than I'd love if I had a blank slate, but it is what it is. Sophia, what do you see the intersection at 50th looking like with turn lanes and how does that impact the access to the Hecker property? So, I just see if they put in a turn lane and it's going to be double yellow stripe there that coming off of 50th. If I'm heading east, if I'm heading eastbound, I can't legally take a left into the Hecker's property if they put in turn lanes. Does that make sense? I think so. Uh >> I mean, if you put in a center turn lane to turn left, if you're going eastbound on 50th and you're going to put a turn lane in to go into this development on 50th, I just envision a double yellow line to force people to go in that turn lane and then legally to get into the Hecker property. Maybe I'm just picking, but you can't then legally act take a left into the hacker property because you're caught in the configuration of this turn lane. That may be further down the road and well into the weeds. And the way you're looking at me, I think it is. >> Nathan, you can wave me off. It's okay. >> You can you can go for it. >> I'll just tell you what I was telling Sophia. So, right now there's no turn lanes in included on 50th. um or if they are, they're being required by the city engineer in their memo. Y >> um the city will in the future have an opportunity at some point and will be working on 50th and at that time could revisit access. Okay. >> Uh to both properties, but sure uh surely does take into consideration >> uh some of the turning movements like you asked about. >> All right. Because I think that is I mean that's a tough road >> going up and down that hill. >> Yeah. regarding the the entrance and exit out of the development on 50th. It really doesn't there isn't really another place to put it. Um it looks like the dotted line there is a the setback for the wetland. >> So that's I think that's a down the road thing. But >> I think that's the only place to put it though. So >> I, you know, my my perspective is that I think the concrete is important in the sidewalk from dealing with an HOA and living in one and seeing the other side of of the ownership and maintenance of that that the sidewalk becomes the concrete sidewalk is is much more it's a friendlier environment um and works really well and it's longer lasting >> and yeah, we don't have any issue with it. >> I have to agree with that. >> Especially the 8 foot or whatever. Yeah, right. >> It's I think the asphalt is really stinky. I mean, if you're on if you're on it and you're walking your animals, they can't even walk on it because it's too hot. So, I think a a concrete would be a better way better solution. I think visually with these high-end homes, it's a better solution as well. >> Just to clarify with the planning commission, it would be a six foot concrete sidewalk, >> 8 foot batuminous trail. >> Yep. Look at that. >> And we've just And we've just gained all that impervious back. >> Yeah. >> And does this mean I don't remember now if it's concrete the city plows it. Is that right? >> No. No. No. No way. >> We've got one on We did one on the other side of town. They're still mad at me about >> Don't get me going, Ben. On on cleared paths. >> They're still mad because they thought the city was going to plow it. >> I'll sit down unless you got other questions for me. >> All right. Could you repeat your statement you said about the sidewalk? >> Um the traditional sidewalk is a six-foot concrete sidewalk and then the trail would be an 8ft patuminous trail. >> So the material changes and the width also changes. >> So if we wanted to do if we recommended concrete for the trail as well >> is it? >> That's a change in city requirement. >> Correct. That would be a change in city standard >> and the >> OP requirements. So be a flexibility. >> Okay. >> So typically be a sidewalk along the street 6 foot wide and then that yellow strip that moves uh throughout the property would be an 8ft patuminous trail. Those are the city standards. >> And I I don't know if we discussed it, but the trail into Tamarack Farms does not exist right now. >> Correct. The land is owned by the city, but the trail is not there. >> Correct. And that trail connection is not on the city's CIP, so I don't anticipate that being done anytime soon. >> I play the new guy card. I think we have three connections going into this development. Correct. >> That is what the city is or they're proposing. Correct. I >> is there a reason why the 50th Street connection seems to pose a lot of concerns? One for constructibility, traffic, and just generally the neighborhood. Do we need the three connections? >> Um, so the 50th Street connection, the city's looking to build a long-term trail corridor in that area. Um, right now, I'll get back up there. One second. So there's a a large wetland right here which restricts the ability to build a trail along this north property line unless it would were to be a boardwalk or um some intensive feature. So the there is an existing trail on the south side within the Tanner Ridge neighborhood. So to build out this connection which is in the city's comp plan um there would be a trail crossing to get to the existing trail to build out that corridor. Um Hidden Null Park this connection would just be to allow um connectivity to and utilize the public trail and park system. And then this one again is not built yet but it allows for connection in the future. Well, this would be the street connection. Trail connection. >> The street connection, if I'm wrong, up in the north >> northwest corner does not go. That's a stub. So, there is no development >> on the west side of this right now. Okay. So, that's just potential. >> All right. Those are potential connection. So, the only actual street connection is the 50th >> uh from the south. And then >> there is a connection at in Lynden. >> The city requires two. >> You just don't have it in your neighborhood because they took it out. county took it out, not the city. >> So, there would be a street connection in Sanctuary Lynden is stubbed right here. So, there would be a street connection where the um laser pointer is and then a street connection down here. This is going to be a culde-sac unless there's future >> Oh, culdeac. Okay. >> Thank you that clarify. >> Sorry for the confusion. Can you throw the motion back up? >> Thank you, Sophia. >> Do we want to recommend an amendment a change to this motion? >> Well, I I think my misunderstanding on the way the sidewalk works. Otherwise, I'd like to see that trail be something different. Okay. Is the the way the motion stands now, we can vote on it and then if we reject it, we can present a different motion. Um or we can approve it as it is. But if we want to add conditions to it, we need to vote on the way it stands. Reject it >> even for a preliminary. >> Yeah. >> So right now we have a second. Um I would say if we reject it, I want to make sure we have fact and findings to come back with an alternate proposal for the city. So if we approve it, next step, it goes on to the city based on our recommendation whether we approve it or deny it. But it's important that we provide facts and findings to give to staff and to the city to make their recommendation. >> And the reason we wouldn't it would be because of the sidewalk. >> I think that's that's one of the conditions. There's three >> there's three PUD flexibilities. So that's not related to the findings or the conditions. Okay. >> So you guys can vote on this motion. Um, you can make a new motion that would include language that changes that one PUD flexibility. Um, and then your findings on why you would change that. The conditions conditions would likely maintain the same since they're not related to that sidewalk. >> Doesn't seem like there's much to change there. My recommendation then would be that we change the the three conditions. My my request would be is that we require that the asphalt the asphalt sidewalk be a concrete sidewalk and that the variances for impervious on the plots be identified. >> So I would >> per parcel >> I would vote on this motion that you already have. Um, assuming that fails, you would then make a new motion and then you get a second and you can discuss on that. >> I'm I'm on board. Okay. So, let's put the recommendation that's on the table uh to vote. Move to recommend approval of the preliminary platin requested by Twin Cities Land Development on the subject property based on the findings and fact and recommended conditions of approval list in the staff report. >> Second. >> All in favor? >> Nay. >> Nay. The motion does not pass the and I would propose a motion to recommend approval patent PUD requested by Twin Cities Land Development on the subject property with the conditions of changing that the concrete sidewalks the sidewalks remain concrete and that impervious land variations over 30% be identified. ified on each individual house parcel. >> Would would you consider adding to that protection for the tw the swamp area, the Tamarak swamp area? >> I'm in favor of that. And I think that's in favor, but I think they've already >> Yeah, it's coming already done. >> That's already done. >> Okay. >> Yes. So then that motion doesn't include any findings or conditions. So if you wanted to just tack on that sentence y >> that I have to that motion that would bundle it up with your two changes and the include findings and include conditions. >> All right. >> You want to say that one more time? >> That'd be great. >> Just for the minutes, >> right? Oh, you want me to say it again? I tell you. >> Go ahead. >> Pressure. Move to recommend approval of primary plat and pod requested by Twin Cities Land Development on the subject property based on the findings of fact and the requirement that they meet the and they meet the current sidewalk requirement with the concrete sidewalk in lie of the asphalt path is proposed and that the identified individual house parcels which need an imperous variance are called out of a and recommending conditions of approval listed within the staff report. >> Second that second. >> Can you repeat that? >> No. >> That's why it's recorded. All right. All in all in favor. >> Did we have a second? Sorry. >> Yes, we did. >> All in favor? I I >> Any opposed? The amended recommendation passes. >> All right. This will be going to city council April 7th. >> All right. >> Thank you. >> Good thing that you didn't die. >> Thanks everybody. >> All right. Me find my agenda. >> All right. >> We give everybody a few minutes. Uh they don't want to hang around for the exciting next steps. Thank you. >> Yeah. >> Yeah. I couldn't I couldn't see it. >> You want to see? There's the There's three pages of that. >> I didn't That's why I didn't get it with a 100 pages. >> Yeah, I was >> trying to look at some of it today. >> Thanks, Mitch. >> All right. Uh, moving on to number five, new and finished business. sustainability update. >> Okay. Hello. Um I'm in front of you tonight to give a brief presentation or refresher on the green step cities and gold leaf programs. Um as well as a few sustainability updates. So so no motions, nothing difficult, just just giving you some updates on the sustainability uh progress that we've made over the last year. Um, as as you guys know, continuing working on the Green Steps gold leaf programs are a part of the planning commission's annual work plan. Uh, last week, Green Steps gold leaf director Kristen Morose presented the city with a gold leaf plaque uh for our participation in the program in 2025. So, first a little uh update on green steps or refresher. This is a voluntary challenge um assistance and recognition program put on by the MPCA for cities reporting on sustainability and quality life uh goals. So high level it's a continuous improvement program based on uh dozens of best practices. So 54% of Minnesota's population participates in these programs or in green specifically uh from cities that are large like St. Paul to smaller cities of 255 residents like um Huitt. The city of Lake Elmo joined the program in 2012 and we are currently at a step five. We have completed at least 13 best practices out of 29 best practice actions. So this slide has a has the categories of the best practices listed. Uh there are 181 possible actions that a can a city can report under the 29 actions. Um once again, we're at a step five. To maintain the step five status, the city needs to continue measuring and tracking uh sustainability metrics. So that's part of the work that we do as part of the planning commission's work plan. So that's a a short and sweet description of the green steps program, but I'll move on to gold leaf. Um, how I see this is that after you make it through the green step cities program, uh, MPCA wants to continue to engage cities to encourage, um, to encourage cities to continue sustainability goals by working towards these gold leaf actions. So, the gold leaf challenge uses the green program as a guide to providing resources. Um, it's uh, I kind of view it as a sister program to the green steps uh, program. So gold leaf is focused on taking new actions that address climate change while green recognizes past and current actions broadly across sustainability. There are 44 gold leaf actions. Um so you have 29 best practices in green steps. You have 44 gold leaf actions uh in gold leafs across four categories. So as the gold leaf director um stated last week, this table is not necessarily um meant to be a checklist. It's more of a a menu of options um that the city can that that the city can use to help identify actions uh to prioritize. So the city received the award last week because we completed two action items in 2025. Uh the first was the tree steward community step. Um this is collaborating with the Washington County Conservation District on a tree stewards program to coordinate volunteers to attend tree stewards opportunities like tree pruning um and educational outreach. The next is creating our green team. So a little bit about the green team. Uh this is a group of city staff that meet quarterly to identify and document new and ongoing efforts. Um we coordinate across departments. Uh so there's folks from planning, finance, public works, admin and fire. Uh newly fire so not yet but he he'll be joining us next time. Uh by organizing tracking this work once again uh we can build a better picture of existing progress and we can use that picture to help inform how we want to move towards future goals. So this is that menu again. Um the green circles are the combined green team tree steward are the leaves that we've already accomplished. The red circles are the is the work that we're trying to do in 2026. And some of these goals um take longer than a year to achieve. So we've already been working on them. In your packet you can find the green team work plan that outlines some of the the slides that we already went over. Um this is broken out into gold leaf goals, green step goals and then um the green steps water impact challenge uh which we are still we want to join that but we haven't decided on what our work will be yet. So very excited to have uh Commissioner Rasmmanson uh as a as a water person maybe you can give us some feedback. So with that I'll move on to some of our uh updates from 2425. Uh first is fuel cloud. We implemented this in 24. Uh this tracks fuel inventory for the city fleet. It helps establish baseline metrics for greenhouse gas emissions for the city fleet. Next is low input grass testing. Uh the U of M began researching various low input grass species in Lake Elmo. The goal is to improve conservation by developing drought resistant grass. Um and we'll have more updates on that in the fall. Uh next is the East Metro Water Resource Education Program. Uh, tree stewards is what we accomplished in 25 and 26. We plan on continuing to do that volunteer work with the tree stewards. They also have a program called water stewards and we are hoping to gather um volunteers and coordinate with the east metro uh on that in the fall of 26. Water rebate program. The city of Lake Elmo in partnership with the M council offers a rebate program for purchases of uh eligible water efficient products. Uh we also put out a water brochure and report in 2025 and in that report we have information on watering restriction, water conservation tips and the city plans to continue to to put out that water brure in 26. Next is the Washington County recycling grant. The city received funding for collaborating with Washington County on recycling efforts in 25. We've been working with them I think since 2021. Um last year we purchased and distributed recyclable totes and um with that had information like going green guides in them. We passed those out at national light night out and we plan to continue continue to use those at um public events moving forward. Um we also participated in pumpkin composting. The city composted the most pumpkins in Washington County. Um we applied for funding in 2026. Uh if we receive that funding, we plan on using it to purchase recycling bins at city parks that don't currently have them. Um we also would like to do a recycling event to be determined maybe something like a fix it clinic. Next up, um some tree updates. Uh 2025 we are expected to become or to continue to be a Tree a Tree City USA community. We've been a tree city community for uh 20 years. Uh the city of Lake Elmo distributed 500 trees at Arbor Day giveaway last year. Um and we're planning on doing that again on 425. And we are also looking to become a tree city growth award. Um that's because of some of the work that we're doing on the tree fund and the Boulevard tree program. So, in 2025, the city established a tree fund and with that tree fund, we are piloting a boulevard tree program. Um, and that is to put trees in rightaways in front of people's houses. And finally, I just want to note that the city is updating the comprehensive plan within the next couple of years. With that, local governments are required to plan for climate change as part of their comp plan. the city of Lake Elmo will begin its work um with to meet the requirements of the Met Council in 26 and 27. So, if you guys would like any more information on sustainability, please head to the the web page. We're doing our best to keep that updated. Um and then if you have any questions on projects, uh feel free to reach out to me directly and I'll do my best to to respond. >> Thanks. >> Well done. Thank you. I had a question for you. >> Uh you have in here best practice actions. Are are these 29 best practices 181 possible actions. Are are these some that we've already done for the city? >> Yep. So uh a lot of them are and that was I think step two and step three of green steps. You can find them on the green steps website. Um, but as Kristen, the director, was saying last week, sometimes we view it as a linear progress program because it's step one through step five, but a lot of the work that we need to continue to do is to go back and look at those step three uh accomplishments and then and update them and make sure they're they're maintained. >> I'm looking at this and I'm just I have a couple things on here. I was just curious, what um under transportation, what are living streets? Is that trees or what's >> I'm not sure of the specifics of each one of them. Yeah, it's a pretty indepth uh program, but but you can shoot me those emails. I'll find the answers for you. >> Yeah, there were there was one on everyone that I was kind of curious what it was about. I they were interesting. So, >> yeah. Yeah, please be in touch. I like talking about this stuff. So, >> okay, I will. Thanks. >> And we had a tree city program uh last Thursday at the regional park reserve. There were about eight of us there >> for the stewards. >> For the tree stewards. Yeah. So, we did that. Uh And we should have more opportunities for you probably in April >> in May with public works and pruning if you want to get out there with us. >> Oh yeah. Get a get a crew and go. >> What boulevards are the trees going? I'm just trying to in >> for the tree boulevard program. >> Yeah, >> we are currently uh analyzing the we had 85 separate um applicants apply for the the um boulevard tree program and I think over 200 trees. So, right now we're kind of sifting through to see which ones are eligible and which ones might not be eligible. And for anyone watching, we'll be reaching out in the next coming probably the week or so uh to let you know, but there isn't we don't have exact Yeah. locations. They'll be scattered, but hopefully everyone that is eligible gets a tree. >> I'm glad to see that happen because we lost so many mature trees with all the >> the road construction and so on. >> It's good to see them coming back. >> Awesome. Thank you. >> No problem. Thanks. >> All right. Next item is uh new communication updates. >> Yeah. Thank you. So the public hearing notice zoning text amendment which increased the mailing distances from 350 ft to 500 is now in effect as you saw with our land use app tonight. That was approved February 17th. Also approved February 17th was the 2026 housekeeping amendments. So that was a planning commission work plan item. So that's been accomplished. And then the registered land survey, which is the old crearyy building getting split off from the lumber yard, was passed also on 217. Um, upcoming meetings is March 23rd and April 13th. And then I did check with our communications coordinator about who is signed up for push notification since that's now an option. Sounds like there are 53 people signed up to receive planning commission agendas when they're available. And then 25 people are signed up for push notifications for public hearings. >> All right. >> So sad it's so few people. >> We're trying to spread the word so >> as it comes up. It's still relatively new. >> Put banners up or >> the balance of how many emails you want in your inbox every day. That's hard, too. No, not so much emails, but um I I just received a letter from the city that was about maybe the storm sewer or something or when those go out, could we include in there that these things are available and maybe direct them how they can find them? >> Yeah. So, I wonder if that was a utility bill possibly. And so, we're doing a water brochure. >> Yeah, it wasn't a water brochure either. I don't know what I received. I'm not sure what it was. You brought it in because >> we're doing our best putting it on the website and um putting it in the fresh and the source and our publications that come out. But um I'll talk to communications and see if there's any other avenues we can take. >> And just I don't know if this is the right time to discuss it, but um also the the front page of the newsletter has changed where you can't just get to the agenda there anymore. And I think that was really helpful >> for the fresh weekly newsletter. >> It's not on that front page. It's not right at the top anymore. You You can click on and see the calendar, but you can't click on the agenda. It should be a easy click through for people. >> I can talk to communications about that. >> Okay. >> All right. Anything else for you? >> Just that we have the training after this. >> Yes, we have training of that. Our next meeting is March 23rd. >> Yes. >> And April 13th. >> Yes. They look like they're going to happen. >> At least one of them. >> All right. >> I'll let you know as we get closer. >> All right. Uh and with that, we are going to not close the meeting because we're not doing that till the end, but we are going to relocate to the training room or the community room. And there's no one here in the audience, but for those at home that this portion will not be televised, but uh it is open to the public >> for our annual training. Thank you. >> Kick them out. >> Kick the chief out. >> So, hey Sophia