Good evening and welcome to the Newport City Council meeting. Today is Thursday, June 18th, 2026. I invite you to stand while we do the pledge of allegiance if you're able. >> 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. >> Staff, please call the roll. >> Council member Schmidt is absent. Council member Sumner? >> Here. >> Council member Ingeman? >> Here. >> Council member Taylor? >> Here. >> Mayor Elliott? >> Here. Next on our agenda is to adopt the agenda. Do we have any changes tonight? >> Hearing none, I'll move to adopt the agenda as printed. >> I'll second. >> I have a motion from Council member Sumner and a second from Council member Ingeman. Any discussion? All those in favor say I. >> I. >> Those opposed, the agenda is adopted. Next on our agenda, we have a presentation from the Washington Ramsey Washington [snorts] County Recycling and Energy Center, and it's this is their annual report. And I'll just have them come up to the podium and introduce themselves and their roles and talk a little bit about what you've been doing the past year. >> Yes. Thank you, Mayor and Council. It's good to see you again. I'm Krista Martenson. I'm the Executive Director at Ramsey Washington Recycling and Energy. We love coming to visit you every year. We should maybe do it more than once. We'll see, but you're busy. Um and with me today, I just wanted to make some introductions. Of course, I have Commissioner Karla Bingham, which you all know well, and she is on our board and continues to be a huge champion for our work and partnership with the City of Newport. Nate Clet from Floth, who will do the presentation on the odor. But I also want to introduce Sam Hall, our facility director, who's been working really hard on our facility to make sure we remain good partners with you all. And then we have two special guests with us, Sophia and Lassa. They are interns from Germany that are here working for the summer. They're doing lots of work on waste sorts. They're learning more about American garbage than they probably ever wanted to know. >> [laughter] >> And they'll have lots of opinions about all of us when they leave, of course, on what we can do better. And but they're also sharing best practices of what happens and how waste is uh sorted and recycling is done probably better in Germany uh and they're learning all about us. So, we thought we would bring them here so you all can meet them and they can learn about this process as well. With that, I'm going to turn it over to Nate uh to do the odor report and then I'm going to come back and talk a little food scraps with you all. >> Mayor and council members, I brought a little pass around just in case people haven't seen it. You want to just take a look at it. That is the actual nasal ranger, also known as a field olfactometer. [laughter] That's a problem. >> [laughter] >> And I don't have the nose piece on there. The narrow side is the nose piece. >> [laughter] >> Each Each individual trained person gets their own nose piece. During the whole COVID thing, we definitely had to make sure everybody had their own nose piece. Um you can move on to the next slide. >> Which way do you think you point it? This way? >> Yeah, that would be the way you would be using it. Yep. And so as it's going around, there's just a slide here on what it actually is. Um obviously, it's a handheld device. Um the knobs on the side are used to change the dilution. So, you dilute it more till you can't smell it anymore. It's a trained individual. They get tested monthly with markers to make sure that they fall kind of in a bell curve. They're not not at all sensitive, but they're not so sensitive. So, [snorts] you You did There's a science to it. It seems a little It looks a little funny when you've got a nasal ranger to your nose, but it is a proven science and they use it in a lot of other industries. Um and it gives us a way to quantify the relative strength of the odor that is or isn't detected. Uh next slide. Uh just a little bit of history for in case there's anybody new. Um back in 2016, we did some studies on what were the atmospheric conditions that would impact areas outside, in particular, with odor. And started adding more and more locations, move things around as the facility as the city grew and the this building or this the city council and the city hall, thank you. Blanking on my words. Moved to another spot here and now as we understand going into moving forward, there's a plan development. We've already started adding two locations there to just sort of get ahead of that development and understand what odors are there now or what what's happening there. So, we've already added for 26 those locations. So, little preview, I'm doing the 25 wrap up, but we're already doing it in 26. Next slide. Um we go out weekly, um once in the winter and twice in the summer each and then on the weekend we do it one one weekend a month trying to hit all the varying times. Um also upon request, Sam and other staff do a bare nose test as they come in if there's something detected outside of our regularly scheduled, we'll come out and do a documentation using the nasal ranger. Obvious goals continue to try and be a good neighbor. Um looking at a great business model, there are a few other facilities waste management um not the company, but facilities that do waste management that are um employing the nasal ranger at their facilities. Um And then document as well as MSW other non-detects. We're all aware there are other odor generators in the general area, um whether they're in within your borders or not, odor doesn't care. It crosses borders. Um next slide, please. Uh, this is a summary of last year, you know, the six locations, summer versus winter. Um, we also come out when there's a west, northwest, or northwest winds cuz obviously that's carrying it over towards the city from that side where the majority of odor generators are located. And um, then there's a lot of data collected. That's just a, you not intended to try and read that little spreadsheet there cuz it's very small. Um, but it's some of the data that we collect each time we go out, temperature, wind speed, wind direction, humidity, barometric pressure, how much material is on the floor, and other, any other odors detected. Some of those things are just indicators of whether or not um, it's impacting the odor. You know, obviously tons on the floor and the wind direction and speed um, have an impact. Uh, next slide. It's just a figure showing the locations. Um, and then a table with where the actual locations are. Uh, again, this table and figure will look a little different next year uh, cuz it will have two additional locations that were added. Uh, next slide. Uh, some of the results from last year, um, went out and did over 680 uh, individual monitoring locations. Had detects uh, at 43 of those locations throughout the year. Um, there was also obviously some rendering. That's an obvious one that we also detect at times. Um, however, the detects were never above um, the seven, which is a dilution to threshold value of that is they need to stay under. So, we achieved the goal of staying under that threshold. The majority of them were in the two range or under two. it's a pretty faint smell. Um, Next slide, please. Um I think everybody would agree that R and E still pretty darn good job since they took over both ownership and operation of trying to do their best to put in things into play, whether it's um adding equipment or structural items to reduce the amount of odors coming from their facility, as well as obviously hiring us to go out, be able to document, be able to have that information and and be able to talk with Director Hall, I came put the you know, put the native the OMI neutralizers on if we're smelling odors. Uh as I mentioned, a couple other facilities, Red Wing um facility is doing similar odor management with OMI odor neutralizers and we also do odor monitoring at Walters. Um don't do a presentation for their city council, but do do two reports for them. Um one in July and one at the end of the summer in October. Uh next slide. This is my last slide. I appreciate any questions that you would have for me. >> Any questions? >> No. Thanks for bringing the >> Yeah, you're welcome. >> It's nice to kind of see what is used out there um and kind of how it operates and that a lot of testing is going on to make sure that uh you know, the work that's being done there isn't contributing to any any odors in Newport. So, thank you for the your work with that and it's exciting to see that other businesses are following and looking at what you've done and taking advantage of the hard work you've done to get where you are. So, um it's great to see that kind of working its way out and helping others businesses as well. So, Trista's back with a demo. >> talk food scraps. I know you all are very familiar about the food scrap pick up program because you were one of our first uh communities to participate. But, we are now moving to our next phase of roll out, which means starting July 6th, all residents in Washington County will have access to be able to participate in the program and uh the residents of northern Ramsey County. And then by the end of this year, every resident in both counties will be able to participate. So, we're really excited. Thanks for being part of the pilot and kind of the start so we could work out all the kinks so it'll be really easy for everyone else. But, thought it would be just a good time to remind you about the food scrap pick up program. Right now, generally speaking in all the communities that we have available participation, we're at about 12%. Our goal is to get to 40%. The city of Newport is at 9%. So, you're a little under average. Sorry, Newport. So, you'll have to get some more folks signed up. Um and it is available for all housing types to include your apartment building. So, everyone in the apartment building could participate as well because it's so easy. Um so, a demonstration, you all are familiar, but just as a reminder, we have these um durable organic bags that we deliver to your household at no cost. You just sign up online or you can make a phone call and we'll deliver a roll of bags. And then you fill from your plate, you know, or whatever you're cooking, all your food scraps to include your paper towels or napkins can go in there as well. And then you fill it to the top and tie it up. It's that easy. And any knot works. You can do the rabbit ear knots, you know, that's how I do it. It's easy. Some people do the old flippy flippy knots. >> [laughter] >> Maybe get a little juice around, but that works too. As long as there's a knot that is tied shut. And then you're just going to throw it in your regular garbage bin or dumpster if you have a a joint thing like an apartment's building or trash chute, you just throw it in and we'll take care of it from there. The bags come in two different sizes. This is kind of the usual size, a 6-gallon bag. I have a family of four and teenagers who waste and I only use one bag a week in the 6-gallon size to just give you reference, but very large families or big canners or cookers might want a 13-gallon size. That's the size just for a reference. It's pretty big. It's pretty hard to fill a 13-gallon especially if it's just organics, but if you are one of those people, you can order. So, you have choice between 6 and 13 and we actually will provide you with 50 112 bags a year. So, two rolls. There are 52 bags or 60 bags in a roll. So, you can get two rolls a year. Probably don't need them, but we're making them available for everyone and I have sample kits and brochures so that you all can help us with outreach. So, I'll leave these behind too and they're here at City Hall. I know the sample kits as well. There's a display or we're right down the road, but anyone can come and sign up and we encourage you to do that. The good news is that these food scraps already that we're collecting go to compost. So, already turning into compost and by the end of next year they'll actually go into an anaerobic digester that will be producing renewable natural gas that goes directly into the pipeline. So, pretty exciting. It's a full circularity moment with our trash from garbage to renewable natural gas. The digestate or the compost that comes out the back end of that digester, we are actually sending through a secondary process called pyrolysis. So, think a kiln high heat pressure that will turn that digestate into biochar. What that does is it destroys PFOs and other toxic chemicals and you all are very familiar with PFOs. We do not want to make sure that we're putting that back on our on our ground, right? So, we wanted to have complete destruction. And then that biochar that's left over is the same kind of charcoal that would be in your Brita water filter. That could be used for wastewater treatment or soil remediation. So, think full circularity from our garbage, working together to collect it. So, the more people that collect, the more gas we can produce in a positive way that doesn't go to landfill. So, I'm very excited. We want to get those numbers up. We want Newport to set the standard of the highest rates. And it should be easy cuz you don't have that many people, right? So, we should be able to get to 100% participation. So, that's the goal and we're here to help. So, anything we can do to help get those numbers up, we're willing to do that as well. >> Well, thank you for bringing the containers so people understand it and kind of the bags because I was speaking with someone about a week ago and they were like, "Yeah, but you know, where do you take it?" And I said, "You throw it in your trash." And they were like, "You mean that trash?" I'm like, "Yes, you just throw it in your trash bag." I said it's it's got computerized pickers that'll that'll pick those green bags out and put them into a bin for composting and it'll get shipped where it needs to go. So, it is very simple and I know Council Member Ingeman has tried multiple times to explain how simple it is. And it's just I think sometimes if people can see that it just it's >> The containers are free also. >> Yes, the containers are free. You at Washington County will provide free containers for you. We provide the bags. We're making it easy, but you can use any kind of container. I'll tell you, I actually have a slightly bigger container under my It's the like 2 and 1/2 gallon bin I got free, you know, on Menards, probably at the state fair that has a solid lid. That's what I've got cuz it fits under my sink so well. I've seen people use cookie jars, so they're cute and can stay on the counter cuz this bag slides right in there. You got a cute container, you do all your stuff, and then you throw it in your trash can. So, it's super easy. Some people put theirs in their freezer cuz they say, "Oh, it's kind of smelly or it might get gnats." So, they put it in their freezer. I don't have room in my freezer. I have too much venison in there that we got to eat, but that's another story. But, so there's lots of opportunities. It's super easy. You just put all your food scraps. The biggest thing is tie a good knot, right? Cuz we want those food scraps to stay in, and then just put it in your waste bin. Make sure you don't put it inside of another garbage bag. We want it just in your waste bin so that the robots can see them and get them out. >> Great. >> Excellent. >> Yeah, and I know at the beginning when we were doing the pilot, it you had really tried to think this through and finding the right bag that will survive being in a dump truck all day, and the bags are good for about a week. I know I tried to stretch some out a little longer cuz they weren't full. Not a good idea. >> just toss it in every week before your your driver comes to empty your bin. Toss them in whatever you got. Yes, we'll take >> I got if it if it's I just put them in, and tie them up, and put them in the freezer, and wait for garbage day. >> There you go. Perfect. That's great. And and it really is working. It's really important that we do this. And honestly, um this is a way that we're reducing our impact, our big impact, right? So, it's not going to landfill. We're going to get uh renewable natural gas from it and the biochar. So, it it really is full circularity. Super easy to participate. Um and and we we're here to help in any way possible to make this program successful. >> Great. Any questions for Krista? Council Member Sumner? >> Yeah. >> I think it would help if you just reminded people that are watching that you can put a wider variety of items into the durable compostable bags. You can put bones and meat products that you typically were not able to compost in the past. So, it's expanded the number and types of items that we can break down and utilize. >> Yeah, and I think they might be on the the next slide. I get so excited I forgot we had slides up there. >> [laughter] >> So, maybe >> Well, let's see what we missed. >> So, this is the This is how it works. Let's see what the next slide says. It might have the list of items. But, yes. Oh, these are all the communities that now will be able to participate with this July 6th rollout. So, again, at the northern part of Ramsey County and all of Washington County, uh which we're here in Washington County, so that's good. Uh let's see what the next slide says. Oh, that's the next thing that we'll let um just have Sam Hall talk about next. But, you're right, you can put more things in. Again, anything related to your process of cooking, your um the leftovers that you think you're going to eat, but you don't get to, we want them all to go in the bag. So, bones, eggshells, your coffee grounds and the coffee filter can go in as well. What we don't want is when you uh left the celery in the fridge a little too long and it gets squishy and mushy, and it's in the bag, we need you to dump it out of the bag. So, we do see people are like, "That's gross." and they just throw the whole thing in. We don't want any plastics in, of course, cuz then we have microplastics in our uh digestion process. But, so it's it's all the other stuff. Those like organic, you know, um sometimes we get the uh organic, you know, plates that are just uh compostable plates, you can put those in as well, as long as they truly are compostable and certified. So, all of that can go in. It's really a great opportunity to do the right thing. And, as uh Councilmember Ingber says, "It's too easy." >> [laughter] >> It is. >> Even Tom can do it. >> Yeah, that's right. That's right. >> [laughter] >> All right. And, I know your ultimate goal really is to close the landfill. >> That is ultimately our goal. >> Nothing going in there. It's all being recycled or reused or turned into energy. And, um so, I I think that means everybody needs to get on board and help out. So. >> Yes. Thank you again for your support. We love the city of Newport and we love the partnership. I'm going to let Sam Hall just come our facility director invite you to a party. So >> Okay. >> [laughter] >> Good afternoon mayor and council members. This is Sam Hall, the facility director at the Ernie Center down the street. Um a couple things we do as far as educating residents, we do have a life of a food scrap bag video that we kind of did just to kind of prove the science. So, if you if we can share that with you as well. So, that kind of reinforces how easy it is and just it shows it going into the garbage bin, shows it going to the facility, shows the robots picking it out and then it going to the compost facility as well. So, there are people that don't believe us that it's working and and we we specifically created a video for that. And speaking of our social media outreach, um there's a new podcast and trash talk trash talk with Trista. And that I think the first guest featured Commissioner Bingham as well. So >> [laughter] >> Um so that was a new podcast that started and we plan on doing a weekly content and uh so, you know, we're we're excited about what we do. We're proud of about what we do and so that's that'll be another thing to reach out to the residents in the communities. Um the more importantly, we have a party coming up on August 27th and that's it's a couple different things, you know, when before Ernie owned this, you know, they had Holler picnics and um we finally had have enough staff where we can plan events like this. So, this is I think our third annual uh as Ernie is the Holler picnic and really we want to celebrate the the community, we want to celebrate the Hollers, we want to celebrate the the employees and we also want to celebrate our 10-year anniversary. So, it's already been 10 years since Ernie uh purchased the facility. It's been about eight years of of us operating it and so it's a big deal for us. And so, it's a big deal for employees. And so, we want to celebrate and have you help us celebrate, so. And we cater through 210 BBQ. They're awesome. And we've used them in the past 2 years, so we'll continue to do that, and we are extending We have a board meeting that day, so our commissioners will be there, and we also have We'll be having tours as well. So, if there's a um council members, community members that want to come and and get a tour while we're there, and we also encourage tours on our our website as well. So, we have plenty of tours and it's almost every day, so. With that, any questions? >> Well, you guys are doing wonderful work over there, and um it's always fun to see uh what's next. And it seems like every year you have another big step that you've taken um as a group. So, congratulations on your success and your your 10 years um in business over here. >> It's Well, I we could be here for about the rest of your meeting to talk about what's next as far as all the stuff we're working on, but >> [laughter] >> it is very exciting and there's never a dull day, so thank you. >> Yeah, great. Thank you so much. Thank you all of you. And and uh when do your interns head back? >> Uh end of the summer. >> End of the summer, so. >> Mayor, maybe I'll just highlight that that opportunity. So, they're with the University of Münster, and that's through a partnership with the University of Minnesota, and and it's a group called Climate Smart Municipalities. And um if you if we can share an invite sometime if you guys would like to attend, Mayor, that would be It's a There's the the University of Minnesota Morris, the city of Morris attends, so there are a lot Different communities highlight the the sustainability work that they're doing in each community, and um there's private and public entities there as well. So, that's where this partnership and this internship really started, and so it's a it's a great It's kind of like a sister country type relationship, so there's trips that, you know, they come here, we go there. And in fact, um Trista, you've been there a few times and with the the pollution control agency and and so it's it's really fascinating and especially from a local level to see what else people are doing A within the state and then B across the the ocean, so. >> Yeah. >> Anyway, thank you. >> Very good. Thank you all so much. So, um next on our agenda is uh public comments. Do we have anyone in the audience? I I think we have people here for another item on the agenda, so seeing no movement, we will move on to the consent agenda. So, all items on the consent agenda are considered to be routine by the city council and will be approved in one motion. There won't be any separate discussion on the items unless a council member or someone requests that it be removed, in which case the item uh will be taken off consent and voted on after the consent is approved. Is there anything to be removed from the consent? >> Hearing none, I'll move consent agenda. >> I'll >> second. >> A [laughter] motion from council member Sumner and a second from council member Ingeman to adopt the consent agenda as presented. Any discussion? All those in favor say I. I. Those opposed? The consent agenda is adopted. Next on our agenda is the engineer's report. Engineer Hurtig is here with us this evening. >> Good evening, Mayor, members of the council. Uh one formal item and then a couple updates on ongoing projects. The uh first item is the Loveland Sport Court reconstruction project. Uh this was a project that was most mainly constructed last year. Uh we had held over a little bit of retainage for as we normally do when we have uh vegetation that gets planted late in the season and we need to make sure that that uh comes in in the fall. Uh public works staff and and I did a final walk-through at the sport court and uh things are coming along very well. Uh they do did reach their 75% coverage and then they also provided us some uh some additional seed and and fertilizer to to touch up some sparse areas as they as they arise here through the through the summer. Uh so at this stage we are ready to close this project out and issue final payment. There is one last payment due to the contractor. We're currently holding $3,015.01. Uh if approved, this will be the last remaining retainage and then the project will be closed. So looking for consideration for partial payment number five to Winberg Companies. >> Any questions for John on this? >> So moved. >> Second. >> I have a motion from Council member Ingeman and a second from Council member Sumner to approve the final payment. Any there's no discussion. >> [laughter] >> All those in favor say I. I. Those opposed, the partial payment is approved. >> Uh now for the project updates, our 2025 uh street improvements project, Meyer Contracting has returned to the site to work on the storm sewer between the river and then up through the intersection of Cedar Lane. This will they will stop short of the Magellan pipeline, but they'll be getting a few hundred feet of that sewer as well as our grit chamber installed and then getting through that Cedar intersection to get that put back together. They should be working for a couple more weeks on that and then turning their attention to doing some force main and other ancillary work there. Uh Geislinger, they're our contractor for the Third Avenue improvements, they mobilized to the site just under two weeks ago. They began work at the hardest part of the project right at the intersection of 17th and Third Avenue and they had a lot of activity on Monday and Tuesday. We had some sanitary sewer, some deep sanitary sewer that needed to be replaced, as well as water main. We had two of the pipelines in that intersection, as well as gas main and other utilities. They had two crews, I think four excavators, about 10 guys working within the intersection. It was It was organized chaos, and they did a awesome job of of getting in and out of there within a day. They had it back open to 17th Street open to traffic by the end of the day on Tuesday. Now they're continuing on force main going or excuse me on gravity sewer going north and south with two crews working on in each direction. They're also removing trees in the in the area, and then just working on getting temp water set up for for folks. So they're they are off and running. And then I think it's later on on the agenda, but perhaps folks have noticed that they've begun clearing trees up in Eastridge, and that's a considerable difference up on the hill as folks are driving by on Bailey Road. Lastly, Cherrywood, we completed the first lift of pavement on on Cherrywood. So now that we have pavement along the entirety of that development and we'll be receiving building permit applications for the development in its entirety. So things are moving along well there. I think that's all. >> Councilmember Ingerman. >> Is there any progress on 17th? >> There We have talked to Geislinger about working on the working in and around that pipeline. They are very familiar with what that pipeline looks like now that they've worked directly next to it. They are They're willing to take a look at those plans, and we're feeling encouraged that they would be willing to do that work. It would be great if we can, uh, work that into a to a change order. So, we'll be we'll be getting them those plans this week for them to start looking over and and determining if that's something they're indeed willing to do. Thanks for, uh, thanks for bringing that up. >> Okay, thank you, John. Uh, next we have the Superintendent of Public Works. >> Uh, good evening, Mayor Elliott and council members. I have nothing formal this evening, um, but I do have an announcement for the public. Um, we've received a a grant in partnership with the DNR to remove dead or dying trees in Newport, including on private property. Um, we've I've started handing out flyers in what the DNR [clears throat] considers a priority area, um, but the application is open on the city website. It's also underneath under the, uh, public works, uh, uh, portion of the website as well. Um, if you have a dead or dying tree in your yard, I encourage you to read through it. There are a few things that you need to, uh, be able to qualify for it. Um, but, like I said, this is a one-year process. It has to be done by next June. Um, so, the deadline to sign up is the end of August. We encourage you to get there now because it's first come, first serve, and it is a limited, uh, limited funds. So, um, like I said, feel free to contact myself or Jill with questions if you've, uh, read through the application. Um, but you are required to plant a tree it to replace it. You know, it doesn't have to be in the same hole. Um, but um, the DNR requires a one-for-one replacement unless there's, uh, some kind of uh, unique situation that wouldn't allow for planting one. So, the biggest concern probably is, you know, if it's not in the front yard right up by next to the street, we need at least 12 ft from buildings, utilities, whatnot to be able to get to the tree and take it down. So, but if it's less than that, don't be afraid to give us a call. We're happy to take a look and see if it'll qualify. So. >> Right. And then is this work that we hire a contractor to come out and do for us? So, I think that's what the money is really for is to pay a contractor. >> Correct. The the plan would be to remove the trees and the stumps in uh early winter of this year. So, um uh the other part is even if you don't have a tree removed, you can get a tree to plant, you know, say you took down a ash that died in your yard, you can get a tree to replant. You just have to meet the qualifications for it. So, we'd drop that off for you, give you a directions, a watering bag, um you know, we're trying to make it as absolutely easy as possible. Um but yeah, we really encourage you to check that out and and you know, if your neighbor hasn't seen the newsletter or go go tell them, "Hey, you got a chance to get rid of that tree for free." So. >> Yeah. Um it sounds like a great program. Council member Sumner, >> does this only respond to ash trees that are removed? >> It it is not any variety specific. >> Okay. That's important for people to know cuz we've had oak wilt [snorts] as a problem, too. >> Yeah. >> So. >> And so >> need to clean up your yard, $1,000 is what it often will cost to have a tree removed. >> Yeah. >> Is often what it'll cost to have a tree removed is $1,000. So, if you can get that done, >> More than more than that, yeah. >> Yes. >> Yeah. >> What's the cost of a tree for people in Newport? >> Yep. Yeah, great program. Thanks for applying for that. >> [clears throat] >> Um cuz that's part of the work, too. This money doesn't just magically show up. And I think there's some Are there some income limits and some other kind of parameters that are on the website. >> Right. Yeah, we we tried to make the application pretty clear, but you know, if there's any questions, we're happy to happy to answer what we can. So. >> Anything else? >> That's all I have. Thank you. >> Okay. Thank you very much. We'll move on next to the administration report. >> Uh Mayor members of the council, we have two items tonight and I believe Nathan has a presentation. So Nathan, if you want to kick it off. >> All right. Uh well, thank you and good evening everyone. Uh we are looking at a request by the developer and builder for Eastridge Heights. Uh they're looking to amend the planned unit development uh that was approved for the project and this is a very narrow focus of this conversation here. Really to a very specific set of standards for the single family homes. So, uh because it's so specific, we were able to get that notice held at the planning commission's last meeting. Just as an overview, I think everyone's familiar with the location. You've seen the trees removed recently. Uh the site uh on the site. So, I won't go into too much detail there. Uh just as a refresher for you all, uh this project is now kind of nearing the sort of what we would consider to be the end of the formal approvals with the development. So, uh we do have a development agreement in front of us this evening. Uh so, what is being requested here? Uh very specifically, the builder has requested uh along with the developer a waiver of the city's standard for window areas on the front of a house. So, the city code section that's uh sort of in question is is up on the screen with the bold part really the key piece, which is uh above grade window and door openings shall comprise at least 15% of all total area of exterior walls on the front facade. So, a facade being the front of a house, typically the front of the house faces the public street. So, uh the the renderings here on the screen, these were provided through the review process by the developer and builder. You can see that most of these homes, most of these home or models are going to include three to four stall garages. And so I just want to say, you know, generally speaking, this 15% requirement has been doable for most homes and and that we've seen in Newport. Most homes recently that we've seen, including those coming in in Cherrywood, are two stall garages and so they're better able to meet the window area requirement cuz they have less surface area front of the home and most of the areas on the front of the home then can have windows. So in this particular situation, David Weekley Homes, they are the builder, they have provided some analyses in their request and they do have a presentation, short presentation for you. But they've basically evaluated the front facades to see how they can or can't meet the requirement and this is how they identified to us, "Hey, we're having a challenge meeting that 15% requirement. We would like to request that it be revisited." So as you all know, the city did approve certain flexibilities for East Ridge Heights. Those are in the bullets on the screen. The front facade window area would be adding to that list. It's shown in bold on this on the slide. So the city does have specific criteria and findings to make when it is approving a planned unit development or an amendment to the planned unit development. Those are summarized here and shown in the staff report and the ordinance. So the development does have a number of conditions the city required when it made its approval. There were 11 conditions. Most of these are standard, but there are a few unique ones that we can come back to if you do have questions. Our proposing to basically add what would be basically condition number 12 and this would be proposed by staff should the City Council approve this request. staff are proposing that all housing plans need to include at least 50% of the front facade should be of a material that's kind of higher, higher quality than what you would consider to be standard. Most often standard siding material would be like vinyl siding as an example. In this case we're looking at the intent of the requirement being to you know have a little bit higher quality of sides and requiring that of this development. The second standard that would be required is actually already in the code just reiterating what we already have which is that the rest of the all building all sides of each residential structure would need to have a 10% on average across the entire building. So that's important to understand because you will have certain situations where a side of a house has fewer windows may may be a little bit below 10% but the front and the rear will have more averaging at least 10%. So the city's planning commission as I mentioned held a public hearing on this request at their last meeting. We did notice this request and did not receive any comments from the public whether it were in writing or even there were no no community members that attended the the hearing. So staff are comfortable with recommending approval of this request with those conditions that I mentioned. I do have some example motions on the screen here that we can come back to but I do want to allow the council to ask me questions or hear from the builder on their request. So. >> Thank you Nathan. Any questions for Nathan at all? >> Council member Semler. >> Could you explain a little bit of what exactly LP SmartSide and or HardieBoard are? >> These are These are like a fiber cement siding. So that's a a little bit more durable material conventionally than what you might think of as you know, vinyl siding. Okay. >> LP's not a fiber cement though, but it's a wood compa- wood compa- yeah, so >> Oh, yeah, yeah, resin and kind of like >> Because you all >> manufactured basically wood. >> Because you also said uh the the the cement board is also ap- approved. Right? >> Yeah, the the intent of that particular requirement was just to allow um, some options as far as higher quality materials. >> Yep. >> So, trying to kind of compromise here a little bit. >> And do these have specific colors that have to be included? >> No. Uh, I I know that the builder can speak to their color scheme. I I I know they're pretty aware of trying to not have, you know, a lot of monotony in their development. >> Yes, I think so. >> Okay. Um Okay. We've kind of asked our questions. Is there anything that uh, we've got the builders here with us uh, this evening? Is there anything you would like to add to Nathan's report or just even a progress check or >> [laughter] >> If you'll just start with your name and company. >> Of course. Um, Madam Mayor, members of the council, city staff. I'm Dean Lauder, I'm the director of entitlements for David Weekley Homes here in the Minneapolis market. Um, I'll run through a short slide presentation if that's okay. Um, I just want to economize a little bit on what I presented to planning cuz I know you may have heard some of this information already, but we do like to share it uh, as much as we can especially because this neighborhood is our our first East Side metro neighborhood. Um, so we're really excited about that. We want to be more present on the on the East Side of the metropolitan area. And so we'll just kind of share a little bit about the company, share a little bit about our homes, and then get to the request and field any questions you might have. So, just would like to introduce ourselves and say, you know, we're we're a reputable builder. We are a a nationwide builder. We're in 13 states, 19 markets in those 13 states. Uh but we are privately held. And our ownership structure is uh what really distinguishes David Weekley from some of the other national home builders. We'll talk a a bit about that. Um but we do compete with with uh other larger home builders. Our desire is certainly not to be the biggest. We want to stay relevant in the market and of course grow. But we care deeply about the homes we build. And uh if you go through a lot of the onboard training, which I have cuz I've 2 and 1/2 months into my job with this company. Um you'll hear things like uh a lot of relationships in the home building industry are transactional. We're selling a house, you're buying that house. It's transactional. For David Weekley, we hear this over and over and over again. It's a relational kind of um engagement, not a transactional one. Yes, we do build a home for somebody to to enjoy their lives in their family and create memories. But really what we're looking at is not just how the the customer is treated before they buy the house or during uh living in the house, but uh or after they've closed on the house, but even beyond that. So, next slide, please. This goes This speaks to our structure, if you will. So, David Weekley is is still working down in Houston, where our headquarters is. He started this company 50 years ago. This is the anniversary year. Um but he How How shall I say this? He made a promise with his creator that uh if he could be prosperous, he would give away at least a third of everything he ever made. To try to make the world a better place. I hope that doesn't sound um too syrupy, but that's the that's the truth. In fact, there are a lot of people I have met at the headquarters who have said they believe that his purpose in life is to make the world a better place, and he's doing that through building homes for people. Um so, a third of the company is owned by charitable trusts. A third of the company is owned by the team members. Uh once I'm there for 2 years, I'll be an owner. Uh and then a third of the company is still held by the founding family, the David Weekley family. This is a shot of the courtyard at the headquarters, and our motto is we want to build dreams and enhance lives. And these are the priorities of David Weekley Homes, the team, the customers, the community. They worry about how they treat the team. They treat you as well as they can. They want you to be as successful and prosperous as you can because if you are, you'll be a loyal teammate, and you'll take care of the customer. And then after that, we want to invest in our communities. And this is just a shot of of the markets we're active in around the country. Next slide, please. So, this is a this is a brief overview. This is a one of our uh really well-selling homes. It's called the Lotus. Uh it could be a three or a four uh stall garage. And the homes that we're building would range from 2,155 sq ft all the way to over 4,500 sq ft finished living space. Three to six bedrooms, two to five bathrooms. Um you've already heard about the garage stalls. Most of these models also give you the option of like a a powder room or a half bath. So, you know, could be a three and a half bath, six and a half bath, that kind of a thing. So, these homes will start uh I know that this was spoken to maybe at an earlier meeting and uh the information wasn't quite uh accurate and I just got to stick up for my teammate Tana. She was uh that was probably her third day. >> [laughter] >> So, we both joined very at very similar times, but these are the starting prices. We we see the average price being in the 800s. Um if somebody were to completely option out this particular home, um this would be over a million-dollar home. You can have a sport court in the lower level of it if you want. But, the parents can spy down on the kids from the kitchen. Um So, why are we in front of you? Well, partly is because uh again, my teammate Tana and I, we we are only recently part of the team and we didn't have a chance to to really review these uh standards and and check them out. We typically pride ourselves on making sure we do that in advance so we can have these discussions with you earlier in the process. But, the 15% minimum on the facade, I think Nathan did a great job explaining the challenges there. You just have so much more surface area when you have three and four uh garage stall garages that there's still uh actually quite good glazing on the front. I think you'll be very, very happy with the sides and and the rears of the homes. Um We specifically design our homes so there are several points, viewpoints, that people inside the home can enjoy, especially out the back of the property. Um but, we have a challenge meeting that requirement. In fact, three of my homes of the seven we're offering would be disqualified by that. So, I would lose a pretty good chunk of my homes that I could build out here. And part of why we want to make sure that we can we can keep all of them is cuz of course we want the choice, we want the diversity, we want to make sure we have a good anti-monotony throughout the neighborhood. Um there was a question about colors. Um so we'll have 15 different color packages. Um we have seven different plans we're building. They have um at least two elevations and can look extremely different, so you could have that Lotus next to a Lotus, um but the facades are so differently designed you may walk away thinking that they're actually two two different homes, especially when you do a different color package um on them. So uh we are we are selling these homes uh in the Maple Grove market. Um and we've had some experience there cuz one of the things that I spoke with Nathan about is couldn't couldn't you add glazing to the garage doors um and help with your percentages? And the answer is yes, we could. Why why don't we want to? What we have found is that uh 2/3 of our buyers don't want those windows cuz they have privacy concerns uh about having them in the garage doors. About a third of them will buy will uh pick that option. We would prefer to preserve that option. Uh and generally it's just that top row across the garage door that would get those windows. In order to actually meet the 15% on certain elevations, I'd have to put in two or three rows of windows, almost making the entire garage door a window. >> Mhm. >> Um so it's just difficult to to uh meet that standard. So I just want to be very above board with you. It's not about cost, it's not a cost issue, it's about buyer choice. And so this is just another example. So this would be a one story with a finished basement. Um I've got the two elevations. One has 9% glazing on the front, one is 10% on the front and it's partly just because we we don't have, you know, [snorts] enough space for the windows and we have extra surface area with those garage doors. Similar this is another uh popular home. This one that can also be a four-stall garage home. This one gets closer but it doesn't quite get there. So you've kind of heard my thoughts on the glazing requirement. We're just asking for some consideration there. We can meet the averaging around the entire house. That's not a concern. Again, I think you'll be very pleased about how the rest of the elevations look on the home as far as glazing's concerned. Um and we we always intended to have stone accommodation of like stone and LP or hardy board on the front facade and it'll be the full facade. So we have no concerns with meeting that requirement. So Madam Mayor, I would stand for questions. >> Well, thank you very much for that presentation and some of the images are kind of nice to see and help us understand all the garages there. Any questions for the builder at all? Council member Sumner. >> Will this area have a homeowners association HOA? >> Yes, it will have kind of a minor one. We we intend to have a monument sign by the north entrance and we will have to create a homeowners association so that that sign is taken care of and maintained. >> Okay. Any other questions or comments? Um well, thank you very much. I think with that um Nathan, if you want to put the motions back up there. Um So, the first is for the ordinance. Do I have a motion? >> I'll move the ordinance. >> Do you mind reading the motion there? >> You want me to read it? >> Yes, I do. >> [clears throat] >> Move to adopt ordinance 2607 amending the approved PUD and establishing the PUD flexibilities and re-zone for the East Ridge Heights project as the findings and conditions therein. >> Thank you. Do I have a second? >> I will give that second. >> Thank you. Have a motion from Council member Ingeman and a second from Council member Sumner. >> Any discussion? >> All those in favor, say I. I. Those opposed? The ordinance is adopted. We have a one more motion needed for this item. >> I'll take that one. Move to adopt resolution 2026-51 authorizing summary publication of ordinance 2026-07. >> Do I have a second? >> Second. >> I have a motion from Council member Sumner and a second from Council member Ingeman. Any discussion on this? All those in favor, say I. I. Those opposed? The resolution is adopted. Did you have more to present or >> I don't have another presentation, but I have another item. >> Okay. So, the the developer's agreement you're doing separately. Got it. Okay. Nathan? >> All right. Uh so, we're on to the next item here on the administration report. Just nothing really formally prepared [clears throat] for you here with this one, but just want to walk through this. So, this is now starting to feel like it's more common for you to have a development agreement in front of you for review. So, I just as a reminder, the city does have, you know, the the development team meets regularly and works on these projects. The city has a standard template form for development agreements that was drafted by the city attorney. And so, with that, when we have a new development come in, we modify the template as needed to bring that in front of you. In this particular case, um we have a conservation easement that was added as an exhibit to that agreement. This is in the city's city's standard form. So, you have a conservation easement and you have a another landscape license agreement attached to that. So, there's there's quite a bit here in the development agreement. Generally speaking, the DA protects the city, you know, when the construction process is ongoing, you have the ability to require inspections, to recover the costs for those inspections, and then make sure that at the end of the day you have the ability to um require that the public improvements, the streets and that things like that are are to the city standards. So, with all that said, we do have resolution 2026. Um and I don't have the right number in front of me. 52, thank you. Which would adopt basically approve the development agreement allowing the city's staff to enter into that. >> Any questions for Nathan on this? Pretty straightforward. >> Just the one one question I have just you you keep doing every project is hours of construction. Do we want to I mean, there's no Saturday no weekend construction right now, no holiday construction. And I'm not sure city recognized holidays are somewhat different than construction recognized holidays. Um that's definitely the case. So, is is I mean, I guess that's I mean, obviously you're not the I guess you are the builder. I mean, you are I mean, I guess is there is that something you're comfortable with or would you prefer to have the flexibility? Because I mean we we've a lot of the projects we have we keep coming back to this after we approve things, but >> Um Madam Mayor, thank you for the question, Council member. Um I think [clears throat] if we could preserve the the ability to build on Saturdays, we would probably want that flexibility. Um if there's an hour limitation of when construction activities would occur, you know, that's something for us to to discuss with you also, but um we generally try to, you know, have that flexibility for Saturday construction if if it's uh pleasing to the city. >> Thank you. Um normally when we get these requests, there's sort of a window that people are looking at. We need it for a month or we need it for 6 weeks. I'm a little concerned with this number of homes that an unending Saturday after Saturday after Saturday of work could be a little concerning up there. Um and I think that's sometimes why we end up getting the requests after the developers' agreement is they they've kind of gone in and they've kind of seen, "Okay, this is this is what's going on." >> Mhm. >> Um and I don't know how the Council feels about like all Saturdays until all 73 homes are built. >> I do think that's okay. I'm supportive of >> right in the immediate area. >> Okay. Council member Taylor? >> I mean, I just think in construction one of the things is that it's not going to necessarily be >> [snorts] >> but it's just one thing is you you lose days because of a rain day or something or other things. There's deadlines and it's just you don't get to work, so you know, and so it's just I personally I'm kind of especially given that it's not in proximity to existing neighborhoods. The only people they're going to affect are their own customers. I mean, I hate to say it, but they they have to work with their customers, the people that are There's always that challenge of developments under sites. It's a it's a constant hassle, not just on weekends. So, it's it's something that they have the interest to do is to work with our existing residents who have moved in. So, I'm I think I'm we can leave it. I would prefer to leave it to them to manage that tension, if you would, cuz it's >> Okay. Now, I know normally we have put limitations on Saturday hours, and I don't really remember if that was 7:00 to 7:00 or >> Wasn't it 8:00? Didn't we give a Saturday sleepers an extra hour? >> isn't it? >> Uh Mayor members of the council, John, what's the >> Typically typically we've gone 8:00 to 5:00 when we're doing kind of the urban reconstruction projects. Uh as council member Taylor mentioned, this may be a little bit different of a of a scenario than that. >> I mean, Matt, how how upset are you going to be if they're banging hammers on a Saturday? >> They're at 5:00 anyways. >> Oh, okay. >> Keep you awake. >> He's already bought his house next to public >> I know. [laughter] I know. >> Did >> And if I may, Madam Mayor, I think I I was just using GIS one day to kind of measure distances of [clears throat] like the lot lines to the public works facility. Um like for us, you know, long term, um like the generator, for example, the backup generator, how close is that to the back of somebody's house? And I think to the lot line, it's almost 600 ft. Um so as far as the homes and and you know, that are the closest to say the public works facility, it's quite a quite a distance and heavily treed. Um so, I think it'll it'll kind of mitigate itself. >> So, I'm not really hearing any great concerns um from the council on the work on a Saturday. Do we feel a need to put an hour at cuz in the summer it's light really late. Other Saturdays, you're going to be in doing interior work, and it's going to have zero impact on anybody >> Yeah. >> um going by. Uh any Council member Sumner? >> There are quite a few roofers that like to be on the job from sun up to sun down and if they're getting stuff done and I would rather see places enclosed to protect the interior with the roof on as soon as possible. So, I think the discretion of the builders up in that location because it's not in a central area with a lot of lived in homes around it. Let them work. >> Okay. Um Nathan, do you have any suggestions on hours or does the council just want to leave it open? >> Well, we have it right now we have 7:00 to 7:00. I'm I mean just maybe apply that to Saturday unless I mean knowing that that's their they're going to be the ones dealing with the complaints if >> Do we need to add that to this resolution then? >> Yeah, I think what we could do is make a separate motion. I believe typically the city engineer has to field a request and then bring in front of you for approval. And so I think if you just approve that through a separate motion, that might be acceptable and that would be according to city code. So I think that might address it and I'll let John speak if it doesn't. >> Yep. That's That's fine. >> Okay. That sounds good. So, at this point I will entertain a motion to adopt resolution uh 2026-52, a resolution approving the development agreement for Eastridge Heights. >> I'll make that one. >> Thank you. >> You want me to read that one also? You just did but resolution number 2026-52, approval of the Eastridge Heights developers agreement. >> I'll second. >> Thank you. So I have a motion from council member Sumner and a second from council member Ingeman to approve the developers agreement. Any discussion? All those in favor say I. Those opposed, the developers agreement is approved. Now I would entertain a motion for Saturday work hours for um Summergate development, Eastridge Heights. >> I'll make that one too if it's okay. Resolution number 2026 >> resolution for this, just a motion. >> Just a motion. I'll make a motion that we approve the >> Saturday hours. >> Saturday hours. >> I second. >> To be written up by the city engineer. >> Do you need to write something up later? >> We haven't in the past. We've just gone off of the council >> Motion. Let's go with 7 to 7 and then if you need more we're here every other week. >> [laughter] >> Okay. So I have a motion from Councillor Sumner. Do you have a second? >> Second. >> I have a second from Councillor Taylor. Any further discussion? All those in favor say I. Those opposed. And Saturday hours are now approved, attached, included with the work >> Thank you, Madam Mayor. >> that you'll be doing. You're very welcome and thank you for coming out today. So next on our agenda is Mayor and Council reports. Just a few quick announcements. Our offices will be closed tomorrow for the Juneteenth holiday. This is a statewide holiday. And also we will not be meeting on July 2nd. That is our July 4th holiday break. So our next meeting will be July 16th. Councillor Ingerman, anything? >> Councillor Taylor? Councillor Sumner? >> I will always remind people that the library is a hubbub of activities that benefit the residents, adults and children alike in Newport. Opportunities to participate in fun events as well as volunteer opportunities. That is my contribution for the evening. >> Thank you. Thank you very much. With that I'll take a motion to adjourn. >> So moved. >> Second. >> I have a motion from Councillor Ingerman and a second from Councillor Sumner. Any discussion? All those in favor say I. I. Those opposed. We are adjourned. Thank you for watching. >> Mhm.