All righty. I'm going to go ahead and call to order the regular meeting of the Oakdale City Council, March 10th, 2026. Sarah, will you please take the role? >> Council member Moore >> here. >> Council member Morham. >> Council member Severson >> here. >> Council member Rich >> here. >> Mayor Zabel >> here. Please join me for the pledge of allegiance. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> First up tonight is the approval of the agenda. Council members, we have an amended version in front of us. Can I get a motion to approve the agenda as amended? >> So moved. >> There's a motion. Is there a second? >> Second. >> Motion a second. All those in favor say I. >> I. opposed and the agenda is adopted. Uh next up, approval of minutes. Two sets in front of us. Uh let's take the workshop uh minutes from February 24th, 2026. Any changes or corrections? Seeing none, can I get a motion? >> I'll move approval of the workshop uh minutes as presented. >> There's a motion. Is there a second? >> Second. >> Motion, a second. All those in favor say I. >> I. >> Opposed. And those workshop minutes are adopted. Last set are regular meeting minutes February 24th, 2026. Any changes or corrections here? >> I'll look for a motion. >> I'll move approval of the regular meeting minutes from February 24th as presented. >> Motion. Is there a second? >> Second. >> Motion to second. All those in favor say I. >> I. >> Opposed? And those minutes are adopted as well. Next up would be public hearing. We don't have any in front of us tonight, so we will move into open forum. Before we open up the floor, we do have one proclamation um codifying the city of Oakdale's support for the uh for joining the Just Deeds Coalition. And the proclamation reads as follows. Whereas discriminatory covenants were tools used to prevent certain individuals from buying or occupying property in certain areas and they were common throughout the United States from the early 1900s to the 1960s. And whereas the purpose of discriminatory covenants was to racially and rel religiously homogenize communities. And whereas in 2016, the University of Minnesota founded Mapping Prejudice to expose the racist practices that shape the landscape of the metro area. And whereas restrictive covenants are no longer legally enforceable, legal efforts to eliminate discriminatory covenants include a United States Supreme Court decision in 1948 prohibiting courts from enforcing discriminatory covenants. And whereas as a result of judicial and legislative actions today, Minnesota law and federal law prohibit discrimination in the sale or lease of housing based on race, color, creed, religion, national origin, sex, marital status, status with regard to public assistance, disability, sexual orientation, or familial status. And whereas in 2019, the Minnesota legislature passed a law authorizing property owners to individually discharge or renounce discriminatory covenants by recording a discharge form in the county property records. And whereas discriminatory covenants created demographic patterns that remain in place today. And whereas the city of Oakdale recognizes the harm that discriminatory covenants and the racial, religious, and other discriminatory practices that they represent cause to individuals and to society in general. and we disavow and condemn its past use. Now, therefore, be it proclaimed that the city of Oakdale or the city council of the city of Oakdale will support the work of the Justed Coalition to educate the community about this historic historically discriminatory practice and take action when possible to dismantling racist systems, practices, policies in the city of Oakdale to create equity for all. We are, as a city, we are incredibly excited to join the Justice Coalition. It's one of those things that is rooted in history and so we may not see it every single day in front of us, but the legacy that these uh discriminatory covenants maintain in our city have no place. And by joining the just deeds coalition, the city will be able to pull together resources and information for our residents where if you want to go through the legal process um which has been greatly simplified by the legislature to eliminate these uh discriminatory covenants from your um personal property. Uh this information will help uh help help you to do so. And so it's just another way that we can provide information to our residents. It's a completely optional thing, but um it is something that we do believe is for the betterment of our community. And so we are excited to join the the Justed Coalition and their work. Uh we're still on open forum. This is an opportunity in the agenda. If anybody in the audience would like to step up to the podium uh chat with us anything that's on your mind, please feel free to do so. All that we ask is you state your name and your address for the record and proceed with your comments. Hello. >> Hi. My name is Gabe Morham. I'm at 78331st Street North here in Oakdale. And I just wanted to say thank you so much, Mr. Mayor, council, members, city staff, for jumping in on this justice program. I was just learning about this very recently and was able to look up which um properties in the state of Minnesota, but specifically here in the city of Oakdale that were still under discriminary discriminatory covenants. And I was startled to see how many there were still. And so it was so great to be able to bring this up with council member Markham and knowing that this was already a passion of a few of you on the council already to see it happen so quickly. It's only been maybe two weeks since I brought it up to him. And watching you guys take such charge of making sure that this was a priority for you for our city is I don't know. As a resident, I'm so excited and so grateful. So thank you. Thank you for your guys' efforts to make that happen. >> Thanks, Gabe. Yep. >> Is there anybody else that would like to step on up and share anything with us? Welcome. >> Hello, my name is Rebecca Lee. I live at 2150 Homestead Avenue North here in Oakdale and I am part of the Girl Scout troop of 57875 and I am here selling cookies. So, I will be here in the back after the meeting if anyone would like to purchase. >> Wonderful. Thank you for being here. Cookie season, it's the best time of the year. >> [laughter] >> Uh, is there anybody else that would like to speak under open forum tonight? All right, seeing none, we'll move into consensus motions. Council members, we have three in front of us tonight, A through C. Any that we want to pull for individual consideration? >> Seeing none, can I get a motion to approve? >> I move we approve consensus motions as presented. >> There's a motion. Is there a second? Second. >> Motion and a second. All those in favor say I. >> I. >> Opposed. And those are approved. Let's check in with our advisory boards and commissions. EMC planning. No, no, no, no. Nobody met. All right. Uh, nothing under awarded bids tonight, so we'll move into staff reports. Uh, we have a couple items, so we will turn things over to our planning manager. Did I get the title right? Planning manager. Perfect. Luke Mlan. Luke, come on down. [snorts] Sorry about that. Thank you, Mayor Council. So, we have a conditional use permit request at the property address 7684 Still Waterway North. The property is zoned R1 where second garages are uh allowed through the conditional use permit process. Would like to note that the CUP was submitted while the city was uh concurrently updating the zoning code. The planning commission reviewed the initial CU request back on November 6, 2025. They recommended approval. Sub sub subsequently the conditional use permit request was tabled while the zoning code was being amended. The applicant updated their garage plans to comply with the zoning code updates and staff has reviewed the revised uh building plans and have determined that they comply with the zoning code. So staff recommends approval of this conditional use permit request subject to the conditions that are found on uh the found within the resolution 2026-11. So there's eight conditions of approval that I will go through really quickly here. So number one is that the structure shall be set back at least 10 feet from the rear and side property lines. Number two, the structure shall not exceed 1500 square ft in size. Number three, the structure shall not exceed 25 ft in height. Number four, the structure shall not be used as a dwelling unit. Number five, the garage door cannot exceed 10 ft in height. Number six, a building permit must be obtained. Number seven, removal of any existing temporary accessory structures on site. And finally, number eight, no commercial activities shall occur within the structure. And these conditions uh do reflect the new zoning code updates. And with that, be happy to answer any questions. Thank you. >> Thank you, Luke. Uh council members, any questions for Luke. Um before we get into the action, so I just want to be clear. Uh there is no uh public comment associated with this agenda item. It does not require a public hearing. However, um a resident submitted comments in advance um that I should have read under open forum and I neglected to do so. I want to recognize um that we we received their comments. We appreciate their comments and I'm going to read them now even though it does deviate from our our standard process just a little bit um because it was my fault. I should have read it before. Uh dear Mr. Mayor, after viewing the proposed plan on the city's website um by the applicant, we are now aware that his new proposal is not in compliance with the city code. City code has a height limit of 25 ft at its highest point. His plan shows that the building height is 21 ft 3 in to the top of the second floor. The roof has a 6x12 pitch, which would add 7T 6 in to the overall height, bringing it to a total of 28'9 in, which is well above the city code limit. Being this plan is out of compliance, we ask that this plan be denied until it meets city code. As it stands, the structure will greatly diminish the effectiveness of our panels to produce the intended results of which they are designed for. If he moved the plan to the west by 50 ft, this would eliminate the issue. At also, at this time, we are in a property line dispute with the applicant. We realize this is a civil matter which is now in litigation. If a structure is built before the property and illegal placement of his fence on our property and the building is non-compliant with with city code is settled, we will seek city and civil action to correct it, which could demand removal of the structure to be back in city compliance. Um Luke, question for Luke. Uh do the revised plans meet the city code for the maximum height of the structure? >> Yes, mayor. We confirmed with our building off official. We actually reviewed it several times just to double check to make sure the height does comply. It's very confusing in terms of the the calculation that we we use for the building height, determining building height, but yes, it does comply. And we we do want to note that our in our building inspector will be out there when the structure is also being built and they'll they'll take a second look just to make sure that the height is in compliance. >> Okay. Thank you, Luke. Uh council members, let's get a motion and a second and then we can go into comments. I move we wave reading and adopt resolution 2026-11 approving a conditional use permit for an oversized accessory building second private garage at 7684 Stillwater Way North with conditions included in the attached resolution. >> There's a motion. Is there a second? >> Second. >> Motion second. Final comments. Uh I'll just make one comment. You know, uh this is a really good example of where public feedback and public input really makes a big difference. Um, you know, often in any body of law or especially city codes, you know, we we don't recognize necessarily holes in our language until there is an example that kind of pushes it to the extreme. And in going through this process, um, you know, I think I think we were able to learn a lot of things about our revised uh, zoning code language. Um, a lot of the concerns that were shared by the neighborhood as well as feedback that was shared by the applicant helps inform us on both sides of any issue. We take that all very seriously. Um, and we work diligently to put forward um, policy and the city code that um, makes sense for Oakdale. At any point in consideration of an application, there may be other circumstances, whether it's attitudes, behaviors, etc. Unfortunately or fortunately, we cannot consider those as part of a land use or zoning application. We have to focus on the text of the city code and the application in front of us. And that's what we're doing here tonight. Um, I want to thank our city staff for the the work that they put into this um to to make sure that our city code is not only being followed but uh being followed in spirit but also in text. um regardless of feelings on the end use, you know, we have to we have to follow our our laws in the city. And this is a good example of um you know, where it it may not be what people had hoped for, but the law is the law. And so we have a motion and we have a second. Um does anybody want to request a roll call vote? >> I would like to request a roll call. >> Roll call. Request a roll call granted. Uh any final comments? Seeing none. Uh, city clerk Sarah, will you please take the role? >> Council member Moore. >> How am I would I? Yeah, >> you were gonna say here, weren't you? [laughter] >> It is have it. Yeah. Um, I >> Council Member Severson, >> I. >> Council member Rich, >> I am voting no on this item because I do not think the size of the garage is appropriate for this location. >> And Mayor Dappel, >> I uh the conditional use permit is approved 3 to one. Uh next up we have an agenda item from engineering uh city projects. Mr. Bachmeer, welcome. Will you please walk us through these projects? >> Yes. Good evening, mayor and city council. Brian Bachmire, consulting city engineer. Uh tonight I'm before you seeking city council approval of the plans and specifications for four city projects uh for R2026-01A which is the 2026 street reconstruction project involving Greenway Avenue 2 second Grafton 4th and 3rd Street Court. Also, the second project is R 2026-01B, which is the Greenway Avenue sidewalk from Hudson Boulevard to 7th Street. Uh the third project is R 2026-02, which is the 2026 Milan overlay. Uh that involves 7th Street from 120 to Hadley and Greenway Avenue from 7th to 10th. And the fourth project is P2026-03, which is the Tanner Park South parking lot, a repaving project. And that includes the drive and parking stalls south of the north parking lot in Tanners, uh the boat ramp drive and parking stalls, and also the connection to Second Street. Uh we're proposing that these four projects be bid as two contracts. Uh the first contract would be for the Greenway Avenue sidewalk. We're proposing that separate because of the uh unique auditing requirements and federal requirements associated with the federal grant. So we wanted to do that as a standalone project. The other three projects would be bid as one contract. So that would include the street reconstruction, the mill and overlay, and the parking lot improvements. Uh the bids for these two projects would be uh advertised uh starting uh upon your approval and the bid opening would be on April 9th for council consideration of the contracts on April 28th. So the council action requested tonight is to approve the plans and specifications for the project and authorize the advertisement and collection of bids. And with that, I'd stand for any questions the council may have. >> Thank you, Brian. Uh council members, any questions for Brian? All right. Long action. Who wants to take it? >> I'll take it. All right. >> I move we wave reading and adopt resolution 2026-12 approving plans and specifications for city projects R202601, the 2026 street reconstruction, including the Greenway Avenue sidewalk, R2026-02, the 2026 street overlay, and P2026-03, the Tanners Park South parking lot repaving, and authorizing the advertisement for and collection of bids. There's a motion. Is there a second? >> Second. >> Motion a second. Final comments. All those in favor say I. >> I. >> Opposed. And resolution 2026-12 is adopted. >> Thank you, Brian. >> Uh, let's check in with our city attorney, Jim. >> Anything for us, >> Mr. Mayor, members of Council, nothing specific to report, but happy to answer questions. >> Anybody have any questions for Jim? And let's check in with our acting city administrator, Mr. Wald. What do we have? >> Yeah. Good evening, uh, Mr. Mayor and Council. Uh, we have one item before you tonight and we just have a quick presentation from Don Tyson, the owner's rep for the project. >> Don, welcome. Please walk us through this proposed contract amendment. >> Thank you, mayor, evening council. Once again, Don Tyson, owner's representative for you on the exciting police expansion of city hall remodel project that we're getting ready to start up. So, tonight's action is approval of amendment number one to BKVR professional services contract. BKVroup is the architect working on the project. When this project was started, we had a a scope that the architect certainly proposed on. It was a slight remodel of city hall and certainly the expansion of the police department. As you know, working with you over the past year, that scope has changed. Uh city hall now is a uh really almost more than a it's more than a heavy remodel project. Uh in fact, when we started, we weren't even going to touch the city council chambers. As you know, now we're going to have some great new council chambers when the project's done. So in the contract when we do get to this phase of the project called design development where the plans are just about ready to go out to bid you reook at what's the cost estimate going to be and the architect can certainly negotiate with the city on a fee increase. Uh the city administrator Chris has worked with BKV and as you see there the uh amendment is for $86,10 but what I want to point to is that originally this contract was 5.9 5.9% of the contract cost with this amendment and the increase in the project cost. It's now down to 4.68%. So, the city administrator has worked. It's literally in round numbers about $100,000 savings from what it could have been with a fee amendment. So, that's the uh even though it is an amend amendment, it could have been a lot more. Uh but thanks to Chris's work with the team, uh [clears throat] we're at this new number. With that, certainly take questions, but otherwise, we would recommend that approval of this amendment and uh architect and the construction team will keep moving forward. >> Wonderful. Thank you, Don. Anybody have any questions for Don? All right, I'll look for a motion. I >> move we approve BKV Group contract amendment number one in the amount of $86,10 for the police expansion in city hall project and authorize the city administrator to sign the amendment. >> There's a motion. Is there a second? >> Second. >> Motion a second. Final comments. All those in favor say I. >> I. I. >> Opposed. And that approval is given. Thank you. Done. >> Uh council presentations. Anybody have any tonight? None down here. None down here. Okay, I got a few. Uh spring load limits went into effect on Monday, March 3rd for the city of Oakdale, Washington County, and Mindot. Weight restrictions or load limits are implemented each spring to preserve and protect streets that are weakened by the spring thaw by water that becomes trapped below the pavement. The weight of vehicles traveling over roads can cause them to bend and potentially crack. The limits are expected to last no longer than 8 weeks. Uh I believe all of our streets have load limit signs posted. Um, so we encourage people to to heed those and uh protect our streets. We'd appreciate that. Uh, the final Oakdale indoor market of the season will be held on Saturday, March 21st from 9:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. at the Discovery Center. These markets have been very popular this year thanks to a unique variety of items and the opportunity to shop local. Always sad when the indoor market ends, but that means the farmers market is right around the corner, so it's not all bad. Uh, Oakdale Recreation is hiring summer recreation youth program instructors. This position runs from early June through mid August. Applicants must be at least 16 years old and the salary starts at $16.50 per hour. If you know someone looking for a summer job that incorporates fun and learning, visit oakdalemn.gov for more information and please apply by March 27th. Always a big reminder each year, the online registration for the Pete Grassy Arbor Day tree giveaway will open on Wednesday, April 1st at 8 a.m. In honor of Arbor Day, the city will hand out 200 trees free to Oakdale residents on Saturday, April 25th to those who have registered in advance. The limit is one Oakdale tree per address or household. More information about registering, visit oakdale.gov. This is always one of our most popular events each year. registration goes super fast. So, if you are interested in a tree, um one of 200 that we're handing out this year, mark your calendar, set your set your alarm clocks, April 1st, 8:00 a.m. Um log on right away because I think last year they were gone in just a few hours. So, um also this year we are not having a wait list. Um so, lock down your tree. [laughter] Uh, finally, save the date for the second annual Oakdale EcoFare on Saturday, April 25th from 9:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. at Castle Elementary School. This year, there will also be a clothing swap with donations accepted from April 6th through the 17th at City Hall in the Discovery Center. These free events are open to the public and offer information on a variety of environmental topics and initiatives. You can visit the city website, oakdalem.gov, for more information. Uh very excited to keep the EcoFare going this year and to add the clothing swap for the first time. Um a great opportunity to do some spring cleaning, clean out your closets, um find a new home for clothes um that still have some life left in them and keep them out of the landfill, which is always a a win-win. So we we we are really looking forward to that event. Bills claims roster February 25 through March 10, 1.27 million in change. Uh council members, were is there anything that we needed to pull out of there? All right. Who wants to make the motion? >> I'll do it. I move approve claims for the period February 25th through March 10th, 2026 in the amount of 1,271.72.71. >> A lot of ones, twos, and sevens in [laughter] there. >> I'm trying to see what is it when it's the same. >> 1 million271 072 and 71. >> Paling. >> Yeah, I was trying to see if it was. It's not. >> Oh, it's close. >> It is. >> Motion second. All those in favor say I. >> I. >> I. Opposed. Bills are paid. Can I get a motion to adjurnn? >> So moved. >> There's a motion. Is there a second? >> Second. >> Motion a second. All those in favor say I. >> I. >> Opposed. >> We are adjourned. Thank you and good night. >> All right.