um Metro cities Transportation then tomorrow is the Lake Elmo airport advisory committee next week I'll be going to Granite Falls for the energy transition on the closing of the Granite Falls plant and then I have upcoming meetings because they're like two to four meetings a week on the ReUse tax base Community engagement and the Regional Council of Mayors and then also local economies and then we have as National small cities council meeting coming up next week next is councilmember Dougherty I have nothing to report councilmember Johnson I attended night tonight earlier this month I also attended the league of Minnesota cities improving and uh uh the service delivery thank you uh in which that's relates to Environmental Policy as well as public safety and then I attended the Parks Commission meeting thank you councilmember hildegrine uh attended the Lake Elmo airport uh ribbon cutting for Runway 1432 um and attended the Planning Commission and those three items uh that were at the Planning Commission that night are under new business today thank you council member run I attended the middle Saint Croix Watershed mean this month throughout the budget for the coming year to effect on us the budget didn't actually change but we did update the formula the last time we've been done was I was in seven and it resulted that we will pay an increase of like twenty dollars next year for what we did this year um I also attended the CBB meeting this month the major news out of there was that they were exploring their options and they have decided to continue as a separate organization from Chamber of Commerce it does not mean they will not be cooperating with the Chamber of Commerce but structurally they will be a separate format or have a separate board in the central budget and their next item will be available here which you start looking to hire a director thank you next are staff reports chief good evening Marion Council just a couple of things we had a successful 1990 event back on August 2nd thank you to everyone that showed up and visit us on the hottest day of the year but everybody we had a good turnout and it was a lot of fun we do appreciate that just update on our squad cars I did hear back from the Ford dealership they do have chips now and they are going to build it we should hear probably the middle of October so what the anticipated date is we order those in November uh we did put out the job posting for the police officer vacancy that we will have available here in a couple of weeks so that wasn't on that is September 15th and then uh the consent agenda we have the aeds just an update on that we received six generous donations and the plan is once we get the actual units in we'll have those parties that donated uh with the items and get good pictures and bring them all back here to the console with appreciation lastly and we've had no accidents at the new roundabout a norelle yeah somebody didn't want to wait for me to get out of the circle it's going it's going quite well it's gonna happen tomorrow it's going quite well that's all I have thank you next is um assistant administrator Penske good evening mayor council Dennis balke who lives at 1485 57th Street North was chosen as the most recent recycling Award winner thank you City attorney stanstrom yes thank you man mayor um one procedural item to know tonight uh in general city administrator Eric Johnson has a uh has historically had a um an employment contract that hasn't had a provision about doing an annual performance review for him August each year and as the council is aware and general public is aware if they've watched our meetings that uh just a couple of months ago here we renegotiated the term of Eric's contract that it was set to expire at the end of this year and has now been extended for an additional two years and uh based upon discussions with Eric we decided that you know essentially the re-negotiation of his contract and the vote of approval by the council that includes some increase in his pay and his fringe benefits generally deemed a positive uh you know vote of confidence in the part of Eric and we decided we'd just forego what performance evaluation this year and wanted to make note of that on the record so it'd be in the minutes that that was the reason for that decision this year thank you and next we have our Park programming director which is Annie Barris Marion Council as most of you know my name is Annie and I am I was honored to be this Summer's Park events coordinator in front of you you have a presentation and I would like to go over this with you Oak Park Heights sponsored 30 events this summer I wanted to put together a short presentation of those Events first we have here is Art in the Park thanks to Gina zui this has always been a well-loved event statistics came from 97 community members out of approximately the 1100 we served this summer on Tuesdays are in the park every Tuesday I would pick a theme that had some type of learning behind it for example on the first day we had do-it-yourself journals to promote summer writing on Thursdays I filled up the hockey rink at brekkie Park with toys this was special because I really got to build relationships with some of the families who committed themselves to every Thursday the boy on the bottom left was a great example of this he would come every Thursday and I would draw with chalk whatever was on his shirt Bingo was a blast and everybody loved the gift cards to local destinations pajama parties were held once a month we had some great parties unfortunately I would not continue this for next year as attendance was low I would also not continue with Park explorers I do not believe the community is looking for activities on the weekend as there's always so many other fun things to do around the community fairies in the park was a huge hit for the community and for all ages I couldn't be happier with the location and all the effort the community put into this houses it started with us handing out 40 fairy house kits 38 were returned as well as others that the community just chose to contribute the magical fairy Village was a reminder for me just how lucky I am to live here in the community that I do to have a community come together and put something magical and inspiring together for anyone that's truly remarkable to have it out for two weeks and have every item respected and cared for is Honorable I feel proud of our community and that's why I got out and that's what I got out of this summer events when all our community members have these events to go to we Thrive as a community and I saw that firsthand thank you for this opportunity thank you for all the effort I was there last Tuesday with my granddaughters and I was just amazed at how many kids were there and how much fun they were having and I think the grandparents had more fun than the kids did so thank you yeah thank you Janice or any way we could get a copy and put this onto the website absolutely and also um absolutely and also a mayor council Summer Park program coordinator Annie and I will work together in this letter too thank you perfect thank you thanks um are there any other staff reports though so we'll move on to visitor public comments section this is a time for anyone in the audience who would like to address the Council on anything that's not on the agenda to come forward [Music] so move on to the consent agenda which is approved bills and Investments check 68391 to 68436 for 236 297.32 cents approved checks six eight four three seven to six eight four six eight four one million seventy five thousand eight hundred forty two dollars and fifty one cents approved city council minutes for July 26 2022 approved city council work session notes from July 28 2022 approve resolution granting the application of Brad and Kim gombold for a one day temporary on sale liquor license at a Saint Croix Yacht Club on October 22nd 2022 approve Eureka Construction Incorporated fourth payment for Norrell Avenue improvements approved ta shivsky and Sons Incorporated second payment for 2022 Mill and overlay project approved Stillwater area high school special event permit for homecoming Carnival with conditions and approve resolution authorizing receipt of donations and directing the donation be used for purchase of new aeds second motion by council member Runk second by council member lilgram Eric councilmember Doherty yes councilmember Johnson yes councilmember Lil Durkin yes councilmember Brock yes mayor McCumber yes and we have no public hearings for tonight so move on to Old business which is to schedule a ribbon cutting event for um we have two of them one for the 59th Street and Norrell Avenue the roundabout they have the official opening for that and then the Norwich Parkway crosswalk um the suggestion is to have it on November 13th for staff November September November thank you I don't want to rush the year but September 13th at five o'clock um because of um some conflicts is there a way to do that at 4 30 and do the Norwich walk first and then do the um 59th and North Second after that would 430 work for everyone is what I'm asking you that's probably a console meeting council meeting so we do 4 30 at the Norwich right by Autumn Hills and then move over to 59th by the roundabout and have staff send out the details and then also to make sure that we invite the um Senator Housley representative Christensen and those who helped to get the funding through so that we can get that project done so is there a motion to approve that time and date so by council member Johnson seconded by council member liljigran all in favor aye any discussion then we'll move on to new business and before we start this um there was a public hearing at the Planning Commission and all of us as council members did watch the Planning Commission Mike obviously was there in person so we've all seen it took notes have staff reports um so as far as taking public testimony from everyone we've heard the positives we've heard the negatives so we're going to keep this just to the discussion between the staff and the council and if something pops up and then I would ask please you know keep your conversation side conversations to a minimum because that was one thing that that was hard for us to hear when we were trying to watch the Planning Commission back so the first down here is the Saint Croix Car Wash conditional use permits and design guidelines site plan review at 14455 60th Street North adjacent to Tire Pros Scott yeah thank you mayor council um as the mayor said this is a new building to be constructed uh the Jason two Tire Pros for a car wash the conditional use permits uh are for the car wash and then for uh gelato sepak for the driveway on each side of the site also with any of these we have our site plan in the sun guideline as soon as the government's review the um property is Zone B2 a general business district again requiring the additional use permit on the building new building will meet all the setback requirements of that District as I said there is a need for the conditional use permit for a bypass driveway around the building on the east side that'd be adjacent to the speedway again right says uh the bypass and for emergency vehicle access staff as well as the Planning Commission did not have an issue with that again there's a zero setback up there at this point and this makes sense for the site planning to uh to waive that 10 foot landscape upper access will come in from Omaha Avenue and then move north through the car wash and then out on 60th Street North amend access permit is required plenty of room for stacking the way it's been designed with the uh entrance around the rear opposite 60th and uh approximately I can estimate about 20 cars in both lanes for a stacking so there should be adequate space and uh MnDOT was also concerned with any car wash that the flow didn't go the opposite way and have the stacking on 60th of eight lessons there is some overflow to have a plenty of room for parking there's still some plans that the engineer needs to review for the gradient range utilities but that's subject to a condition does that be resolved before building a car backings again that's a issue that we review with any type of car wash facilities sets was the last one we had done and we added a condition that the app and um subject to a rear review of the conditional use permit if that has been issued we're a long way from neighborhoods with this car wash so we don't proceed at that being an issue with the in the sound levels uh you know the pan is pretty basic in terms of the biting plans for capless screening landscaping and so forth all that's been reviewed looks good uh the signage plan is all confined with the ordinance and we've done a review of as well as the final question did review the design guidelines had no issues with the overall design so there's a resolution here packet with the recommendation of the Planning Commission that indicated uh that it be approved uh and uh with the conditions that are listed here any questions we have a couple um with the exit going out onto 60th Street I just remember when Mr Car Wash was up um off of Osgood during the winter sometimes all that water would come out of the car wash and there would be the ice that would start to build up is the applicant going to make sure that that does not happen coming out onto 60th Street and then the other question is I did read the letter in here from MnDOT that they suggested and not have another curb cut and because there are so many curb Cuts along 60th Street that the suggestion would be that they entered through tires Pros but I assume MnDOT will make the final call on that one okay as far as the ice I guess it probably works can monitor that if there's icing on that road uh sand can be put up you know they can work with fire ports really be tired person's responsibility to make sure that there is an icy situation I just remember it Mr Car Wash sometimes it'd be so I see on that Hill is people would actually slide out onto Osgood and we don't want people sliding out onto 60th Street luckily we've got a pretty level situation there and hopefully they don't race out of car wash any questions for Scott any discussion at all so is there a motion I said looks good on my end okay so is there a motion to approve the car wash second one or the other okay motion by council member Doherty second by council member Lil scrun Eric councilmember Doherty yes councilmember Johnson yes council member logic yes council member Rock yes mayor McCumber yes next is the senior housing Partners Valley Senior Services Alliance planned unit development concept plan 58th Street and Norwich Avenue North side of 58th Street Scott yes yes thank you mayor it's been a while since we've seen bubbles come through with a uh with an application it's always been anticipated in that area to the north of 58th Street they've owned that property for some time that there would be a a development additional plan due development a review of that area and that is now in front of us this time we're only dealing with the concept plan for the for the overall plan new developments of that area it would be a three-phase project uh consisting with 79 units multiple family housing building at the North End Jason's delos of the subject property the two other phrases what a brownstone Senior Living Facility in the other and mixed-use seizure moving really the this two other phases really have now been planned in detail by Valley seniors or senior housing Partners but again that they have defined a pretty uh in some detail the uh the 79 unit multiple family housing building as I said since this is going to be in phases we will do a general plan review of the details of that 79 unit mobile family in the coming months the last plan new development uh uh for for this review for this project was in May of 2008. a comprehensive plan has consistently indicated that this would be a residential business transitional ballet seniors has always said that they would do possibly a mixture of office maybe some senior living and now with this market rate essentially uh apartment building that's all consistent with the common plan property is zoned V4 limited business district lawful family development is done with the conventional use clearness again we're not reviewing the the building 790 units building in detail but it'll be um about 49 feet three inches and so fairly significant building at a subdivision it was noted that in 2008 we had approved a culinary final flat for what was called bubbles I need second edition something fell through the cracks it was never filed so it's still an outlet status but as part of General plan they will do a a new plat and this probably could a physical fit their current development plans uh they didn't want to just subdivide that property Market dedication connection fees that something again will deal with the general plan and so far the determination has been made that everything was paid for a south of 58th Street not for the north of 58th Street we're continuing to do research on that but we'll have that resolved as we look at uh uh project density open space at Zoe nordis has density requirements and again this is well within at least in the first phase of the sit back speed to the requirements that that first phase that first Department building um minimum four area we do have a requirement um efficiency and one bedroom units need to be 600 square feet they do have some units that they're looking at at 440 square feet they're called Alcove units you'll see them in their floor plans I think we should discuss that a bit I don't think there's an issue with that but that's something that we want to continue discussions with the app that's on as we look at General plan and again they have some specific reasons why they want to do units that size and that is something that you know that we can look at as a part of the climate development and if there's specific conditions on it so be it will pull over boots on proposed Street access they'll continue with the same street access with this first phase upon development other phrases you'll be an access provided at Norwich Avenue the pulmonary Trail sidewalk plan shows that interconnections throughout which is positive um again the detail items are more of a general plan and will will those will be addressed one of the things also we talked about is parking they have a lot of addition parking that they're planning and a lot of things we're looking at with the applicants is maybe showing proof of parking and again an issue with large expanses of parking lots and we have a lot of those along our Highway 36 strip is uh and there's some heat mitigation I keep ion medications and we can do or and specifically a group of parking I think is one way to deal with that so they don't build a large number of skulls that may not be used again to contribute to that and you'll have bike racks in for the final yes and uh so with that uh there is a resolution that recognition Planning Commission was favorable for this for this concept plan and missions are listed within the resolution you have a couple members of the final Christian gym and Taylor are also having questions we did a good job with the Planning Commission any questions for Scott what we're approving today just the general plan it's just the concept the concept the concept and then the the concept is that visas that is uh that is my understanding yeah well who knows they may decide to do the uh other two buildings in in just a second phase again they have not determined the details we that would be down the road just like we did the rest of the fellows any other questions for Scott no I don't I I do have some questions but I think as we're going through the general plan those are gonna those are gonna come out so the overall master plan I think looks good that was the first thing I thought where's the bike rack so is there a motion to approve or if there's no other questions so moved councilmember Doherty yes councilmember Johnson yes council member Lil yes council member Runk yes mayor McCumber yes um next is Oak Park Heights comprehensive plan Amendment for 5676 Oak green Avenue North Jamie junker applicant representing JK and K Group LLP Scott yes thank you mayor the latest classification of this property is Soviets the residential in a conference of plan 2018. um the applicant is considering at least at this point literally two buildings these three stories with us possible total of 36 condo units the low density residential classification is not consistent with that proposed NC so the afternoon is a piper conference Amendment the change that of classification high density residential the details of the project are not be considered at this time again it's only 11's classification we met with Mr Trump here and his team and felt that the best way to approaches because it was a departure from our comprehensive plan that was just updated in 2018. it was about 2020 we go through that set before you invest a lot more time money and resources again in a full Planet so we've got I thought this was a good way to transition this and and see if there's interest in the community to change accomplishment plan uh property is currently his own open space conservation and again you would need to be re-zoned likely to an RS3 or multiple family districts in order for a project like this to proceed applicant has provided uh provides background information can also have held four neighborhood meetings to each on May 17th to your juices from the summary of those needs as part of your package the high definition uh reviewed this at a public hearing after August 11 feeding and recommending denials of unanimous set of recommendations and the comprehensive plan event requires supportive vote of the city council because I indicated it's currently designated in the comp plan as low density previous compound in the 2008 plan was closed land use map as a medium density residential subject properties is a 2.9 acres in size and again some of that includes the way the area was originally plotted or at least was the properties were lines were drawn a portion of that 2.9 acres is indoor green Avenue right away so we don't have a survey so we don't have exactly how much develop of land to approach some density requirements but I as I said to the Planning Commission when we looked at some of these higher density developments we did not necessarily look at the higher end of the density allowances within the comp plan but reverted back to the zoing ordinance so when we did Old Park Senior Living Villas but was Landing again we're looking more at the Zone density we do make a note I do make a note in the reports and the resolution that the 36 units would exceed those density allowances based upon the size of the lot but again I think that's something that if the council decides to move forward with uh with the high density designation they would have to take a look at if there's a higher end to that so I know the applicant had some issues with that but I want to point out that in doing more research again we use more of the zoning identity and in terms of that the the zoning um densities were or fine as far as the development proposed when the city council and Planning Commission in 2018 uh looked at this property and this subject property was specifically called out in the comp plan on page 75 as an infill development that would accommodate six family six single-family units um the thought was with the Palmer station that was being developed at the same time as we're doing the comp plan that 58th Street Oak Park Boulevard made a good transition transition between that lower density development and then the higher density to the north with the noldy Noli development the or Parkville as I should say so there was a um you know really there was some discussion um and a comfort level with again taking that from mid density to low density for land use for the subject property and so I go through and I talk about that in the resolution as well as the report the reasons why that change was made land use consistency with established single-family neighborhoods to the South and again that transition transition period or Point traffic concerns with the low density development with more than a low density development to the corner 58th and Oak green Avenue again recognize that that intersection sees High volumes at certain times there's backups it was felt that it was better that that was low density especially where your access points have to be fairly close to the intersection just because the way the property is is laid out that the lower density made more sense and then desire to add more a single family uh development to the city though we don't have really any additional land for single family development and this is felt as a as a good area for again promotion of probably up to six six homes for for single family purposes so that is the reason why I think the city made a very uh strong commitment to design this uh area that way and as I say in the report too the city has a lot of discretion in how it determines what its land use is in the community the Met Council really over all books that General Community densities traffic and so forth they're not telling us yet this 2.26 Acres needs to be low density or high density that is really up to the community and and the state of Minnesota the Met Council allows us to make those determinations a few things uh I did pull out what I thought was relevant to the comp plan uh related to low density high density development and that's the points that I made my report uh what such things as preserving small town character uh felt that there was uh uh with this as low density it again preserved more the low um the the small town character of that neighborhood uh the policies of the land use plan talk about prevent over intensification of land use um I guess with looking at all the elements of this in my opinion I think the planet commission agreed that going up to 24 36 units high density development would be an over intensification of that of that area oh I see I don't want to repeat myself again there's uh I didn't mention the 150 foot um buffer that was set aside a number of years ago uh with the butt walls Landing to provide that transition also or open area in that area but it's never intended that that would be the point at which that transition from from low density to high density would be the intent was always mid density or now a low density a development in that area uh one of the residential land use policies talks about concentrations of multiple family dwellings and apartments in the city again you know land use compatibility traffic and other other issues are are things that I believe made us stop and pause and look at this area as being more appropriate for low density so I won't drone on any more about that but you'll find a resolution in your packet that talks about again the reasoning why in 2018 we uh we designated this area the way that we did and and again the pione commission agreed unanimously with the uh with staff on this uh that the designation remain is low density and not be changed at this time so any questions just not questions but more statements is the council was very thoughtful going back probably 15 years regarding this particular property um as Bob walls was being developed we were seeing you know more density coming and then when Oak Park Senior Living came in was to try and have a delineation so that this is the higher density this is the lower density and also the issues with on 58th Street with having curb Cuts you know with uh Oak Park Senior Living we had them make their entrance and entrances off of Nova Scotia or different areas this particular area the curb cuts are just way too close to the intersection and granted the speed in my opinion is too high I heard at the meeting that supposedly I wanted to raise the speed I did not want to raise the speed I wanted lower um but in the afternoon you've got the buses the school buses you've got people coming and going and there's a lot of traffic and I think the curb cuts for this is just too much too much activity at that particular intersection low density makes much more sense and we a couple of years ago we looked at one that had I think 13 units or 12 units in it and that even seemed too high so I'm in favor of leaving this is low density and when the right development comes along it'll present itself and as far as development I think it's always been assumed that uh you know there's 13 units in Palmer station off of one called a Sac serves that very well you would have one access obviously just for maybe a six or seven unit um single family development so again placement of that is important in terms of traffic but uh less trips per day obviously with the low density development then a higher 24 or 36 unit and similarly with a Palmer station when that was developed was not to have that curb cut come out onto boat ring that it comes out on a outside Park Boulevard so which is much slower coming through here or it should be but um I'm not in favor of allowing a change to this I don't know if anybody else has any comments or questions I guess I would agree mayor just from the standpoint of you know we had the public process for the comp plan in 2018 we've looked at it you know there was a process there's a public process for that we went through that and I think we did our due diligence to look at you know what kind of development uh should be at that site and and therefore yeah I'm a post as well to make any change to the comp plan any other comments Jeff no I mean I think I agree with hooks have been said I mean as part of the comp plan group and this is what we wanted I want I want to make a comment um because I think there were a few things that at one point it was that I supposedly supported it I'm like no I didn't say that but then I think he misconstrued a number of things um the fact that um as Scott mentioned the idea between this that 58th Street was the Divine line between the high density and lower density and as far as the linear park or the buffer zone I said I guess I always looked at that and said that was I looked at it and said it was kind of a protection for the houses on 56th Street and Novak and the fact that it provided the buffer with the trees to try and reduce the noise from 58th Street traffic and I think that was probably when I met with him and I talked about it was the fact that he kept talking about how the cars were going to come in in this and I'm like you have all these cars coming into these into your garages in the through the backyard of the neighbors and so I wanted to make clear that no I I told him I said we'd have to go through you know he was welcome to go through the process we talked about how we how what the process was and I think that's all we've done is we've gone through the process and uh unlike what he said in the other name where he commented that this was kind of like the comp plan two thousand 22 version no we had the comp plan from the 2018 and you want to change that and you need to provide justification and I don't think there was any justification there I think the we made the proper decision to when we decided to uh designate this is um low density and we do have some of the memos that go back and forth the comp from comp plan gets reviewed every 10 years so it'll be reviewed again in 2028 Life Changes who knows what it'll be then but um for now is what it is the only thing I'd like to add is the comment about it being a rubber stamp oh I didn't like that one either I think it it's really important to note that the work that our planning Commissioners did who are in the room and the council did watching the funding commission's public hearing reading everything that was submitted responding to public comments all of the public coming to give their opinion that is far from a rubber stamp uh here's my notes from watching all of you on TV and we all met with the headphone calls with the developer I think my phone call was in April before any staff meeting he mentioned in that public hearing so this has been a long process with a lot of public engagement and Council time staff time Planning Commission time and so that statement I think needs to be well it's obviously it's not going to be rubber stamps so is there a motion I move acceptance or the resolution to deny second motion by council member Doherty second by council member Lil twin any further discussion Eric council member Doherty yes councilmember Johnson yes council member Lil durgren yes council member Runk yes mayor McConnell yes oops I forgot to say that don't clap but it's good to see all these people here yeah there's a lot to come on back um next is other Council items or announcements I think we have one announcement that about the walk run yeah started August 20th through the 31st would be there are two routes available a 5K into 10K there's no fee to purpose to participate no pre-registration needed uh just go to our website download the or print off the maps go do your walk run during that time period submit your response that you did it and it enters you into what a prize yeah it's a great way to see the city trails and Parks I'd like to thank all of you for taking the time again for your participation your emails your comments and your engagement so thank you very much for attending tonight the next is their motion to adjourn so moved second motion by council member chances say goodbye council member and all in favor hi we are adjourned