our listening session to order. I'm sure other council members will be coming shortly here. Um, we have four people who called ahead of ahead of time and got on the list here. Paul Royer, there's Paul. Brian ES Brian
Steve Purlan I don't see Steve and Alise you are so what we will do uh everybody will have five minutes and we needed five minutes I'm going to cut you off within the journey but because I want everybody to have the same amount of time and we want to be even and fair
about this and uh we'll invite you to as you start if you can just state your name you can sign in afterward because that takes just a little bit uh and if uh if you Do we have any questions at the end? If we have time, we'll we'll ask questions and it'll be a bit of a back and forth for what we're doing here tonight. So, we'll go in the order that
I read and if Steve Furlong makes it in, we'll kind of put him at the end of the line here. So, Paul, why don't you join us up top here? Thank you. I can see you right there. Good evening everybody. Okay. You, too. By the way,
you don't show it. You're kind. Thanks. Good evening, mayor and council members. It's a pleasure to be here. Uh, my name is Paul Royer. I've been a resident in Wilmington since 1998, so 27 years. My wife, two boys, public schools, love everything. I've also been a business administrator at St. Steven Lutheran
Church for the past 11 years. Let me get back on the screen. Probably lose it. Um, so tonight I'm here on behalf of St. Steven Lutheran. Uh, they're on the corner of 84th in France. You might have seen them before. Uh, the church was founded in 1959. The doors to the church
opened in 1961. And, uh, since then, our mission has always been to serve our congregation, our neighbors, our city, anybody in need. That's what St. Steven is all about. So in 2003 we entered into a partnership with a small business called grounds
control lawn maintenance company stone has been serving bloom in the south metro since 1980. For just over two decades uh we've shared a mutually beneficial relationship with them. One that's not only been peaceful but really profoundly positive for both our parties and more importantly for the wider
community. Uh here's how it worked. Browns control used a portion of our unused garage space. We had inheritance garages when the property joining us was given to us. So we let them use the the garages for storage, uh a little bit of maintenance work, quiet maintenance work, and then they would hold their
morning uh meetings where they would get all their crew together and then send them out on their jobs. Um in return, we received free lawn maintenance and really favorable pricing on our snow removal. Uh they prioritized clearing us out for Sunday morning services as well as opening the parking lot weekdays so
our preschool parents could get in without any issue. So thatation worked beautifully without a single loan complaint to us for 22 years just until May of this year. And then the city received a phone call from somebody complaining about about commercial
operation operating out of our business which is so residential. Um so anyhow but this what here isn't just about convenience for us or cost savings for the church. uh because a certain amount of what we have saved over those decades has really been reinvested back
into our community because that's again what we do. We serve. So for example, some of those savings allowed us to build a large community garden that supports feet. It's right on the corner of our property. We expanded it once we expanded it a second time a few years ago. We actually I think it's just over
2,000 pounds of feed fresh produce. And our gardening group is growing every year and they're passionate about this. Um, so that that's one way of supporting it. We also are involved in local events like Bloomington Pride Fest, partner with other churches, have a tent there, you know, and show up visibly for the
love of inclusion, dignity, all of those wonderful things. Um, so and we've also been able to offer some tangible support in our growing Hispanic community uh by donating to Tapestry, a local ministry that, you know, works with within that uh population for both cultural and spiritual care.
And a great portion of this has been in part to the partnership with grounds control. They have freed up probably close to $10,000 a year for our church, which is no small piece for congregation of our size. Um so tonight, we're not
here just asking for a variance or a conditional use exception or whatever the appropriate vehicle is to try to achieve that. We'd like you to recognize and preserve something that's already working, something that's been tangible and it's last, sorry, provide tangible lasting good to
the people who live here. We believe that continuing this partnership doesn't just benefit a church and a small business. It benefits our city, supports food security, inclusivity, early childhood education, and strong local relationships. So, I thank you for considering our request to allow Grounds
Control to resume their responsible and valuable use of our property this fall. We don't think it's only fair. It's good for Bloomington. That is hopefully under five minutes. It's certainly under five minutes. Paul, thank you for that. So, did you get a a letter or was was any contact with
people? Yes, we actually first received a phone call from Ryan, I think it was. And just just asking what the situation was. So, I followed back and talked to him a little bit and then he sent an email. I've got a letter that followed week saying we had to basically cease
and desist because it was a violation of the current ordinance. Uh so it took some time but we complied. I mean grounds control been there for 22 years. They had to move their equipment out of the garages find a location to rent to to house know that and then stage their
wares but we got that taken care of. Also additional questions. Do we have any and do we know where it stands now? Like is there a formal request for variance? Mr. may already know. I don't believe there isn't I I'm in fact trying to figure out what our
next step could possibly be. I did talk with I talked with Mike Centinario um and and his comment was that he felt that without changing the zoning laws, we wouldn't have a shot at this. That
seemed like a bit excessive for what we were asking for, which is why I decided to come to the open listing session. So, I'm really looking for guidance of what are there possible next steps and if so, what might be? I I would hate for us to shoot try and figure this out at the on
the fly. Our city manager, our city attorney taking notes feverishly here. So, why don't we uh we've got your contact information if they've reached out to you already. Uh we know where to find you and so uh why don't we see if we can put our heads together, talk to some folks, see if there is a path forward. Not saying there absolutely is,
but we will take a look and see if Great. That that's exactly what we're looking for. So, thank you very much for your time. As you please sign, as you get evening, mayor, council, welcome. Um, pleasure to be here. I have a topic here
that's probably know a lot about, get a lot of discussion about. It's the storage of trailers and travel trailers. Well, I'm going to talk about my situation. I got a big piece of property. It's 19,000 square feet roughly. I've been there 38 years. Been
a resident here. And I had a a 20ft trailer stored along my garage. It's 40t long. It's enclosed by the side of it's enclosed by a six-foot privacy fence. Well, I got a letter saying that it's I got to move it. It's illegal. Um, it's
an oversized black trailer. He states, "Now, I talked to the the uh compliance. I came here and we had a face to face, which was really good." So, he's doing his job. I understand that. So, I'm coming to the people that make the rules. That's how you get anywhere,
right? If we get anywhere. So, what I'm looking at is why are these big long travel trailers allowed in my little 20footer? isn't. That's kind of the confusion I have. You know, when I bought it, I got neighbors that have
them and motor homes and everything like that, and I never even thought about looking at the the ordinance. Well, I'm not in compliance. So, you threaten me with a $1,000 fine and all this other stuff. Well, I'm not going to I'm not going to do that. So, I
moved it temporarily. So, my choices are $2,400 a year to store or sell it. And neither one is really an option that I like. I was wondering what other option do I have? Can I apply for a variance or I mean if you saw if
you saw where it was I think it's reasonable. You can see maybe the top foot and a half of it but for some reason this trailer is not allowed and that's why I'm here. Senator, did they indicate the reason? What was the reason why it isn't allowed? It's uh says that
it's in See here. Discontinue storing oversized black enclosed trailer on the property. Trailers of this size are not allowed in a residential neighborhood. Now that's it. Now what it looks like is your typical construction like trailer. It's
just a square two axle trailer. It's has the ability to have 110 volt power. I I go to I I use it for different things. So that's why I have it. Um, why I'm curious is that some of these travel
trailers, and we've all seen them, they're massive. You know, my little trailer hidden behind my fence, and that's why I'm I'm wondering kind of how I got nixed on it, and a lot of these other ones did. So, or they're legal, I should say. Well, I think the we we made
the distinction between that type of work trailer as opposed to a motor home or a boat or that kind of thing. I think um I think the reason was usually with those trailers come a home business. It's an entirely different set of issues. So we were we were I think
trying to avoid that. And uh but the you know the the larger vehicles and especially alongside a garage closed I mean they they are permitted. Uh, so it's a good question. I'm without knowing the details or the specifics,
without going and putting eyeballs on it or hearing from our our city folks, I'm not exactly sure what the the rationale might be other than size. And frankly, I'm not sure if there's a um if there's a remedy either considering the way the the ordinance is written, the discussions we've had, and you're right,
we've had these discussions over the years over a number of years at a number of different times. And this is where we landed just as a a way to preserve neighborhoods and making sure that uh other folks don't have to sit and look at yourself out their window all winter, that kind of thing. So, uh but in terms
of what can be done, we're going to have to take a look. And as I as I mentioned to Paul, the answer might be nothing, you know, short of rewriting code or rewriting doing something. But we'll definitely take a look and see if there are workarounds or if there are options or what we might be able to come up with. Yeah, that's that's fair enough.
And um I don't really get into other people's business with their stuff. You know, what they have they have. I'm just talking about me. Like I don't care if my neighbors got whatever. You know, my neighbors don't complain and you can't hardly see it. And like I said, it the
biggest thing is, you know, $2,400 a year is a lot of money. That's a vacation for me, you know. But if there's something we could look at and come something reasonable, maybe not, you know, I guess I'd like to look at it and I know the compliance officer's
looking at that's his job. And so, you know, that's why I wanted a face to face with him. I don't I don't like emails and texts. I deal in face to face when I deal with things. So that's kind of how I operate. So fair enough. If there's something we can look at and I'm all
open for it. We will be hearing from us. Okay. Thank you very much, Elise. Thank you. Good evening. Welcome. Good evening. Thank you. Um good evening council members. Thank you for the
opportunity to speak tonight. My name is Ally Jarvis and I'm a proud resident of Forest Hills neighborhood. Congratulations. I'm here to urge you to support two ordinances. one to prevent the retail sale of dogs and cats from females and pet stores and
one to prohibit wild animal services in our community. These ordinance are both about protecting the animals and people alike from cruelty, deception, and the good news for us in Bloomington is this
is currently not an issue. This is more about preventing the problem from happening. Let me begin with a personal story. Serve me faster. Okay. Years ago, I bought a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel from what I thought was a responsible breeder in the Southwest Metro. His name
was Luke, though our friends called him Little Lemon because his health problems never stopped. He suffered terrifying neurological episodes that left him frozen and helpless. After months of confusion, a neurologist at the University of Minnesota diagnosed him with episodic falling syndrome. very
rare disease. And the only hope for Luke to live was to um get in the study in Scotland where he would be able to use the experimental medication. But to qualify, we need blood from Luke's parents. That's when we learned the
heartbreaking truth. The breeder had lied. Luke had come from a puppy mill in rural Minnesota. The house we visited was a front. It was just a showroom for animals raised in cramped road conditions. Luke was likely born in a cage, trucked up to the cities, and sold
to us naive and hopeful new pet owners. A humane pet store ordinance would prevent this. Nearly 500 cities have passed similar laws, including 13 in Minnesota, Rapids, Maple Grove, Shore View, AIO, and more. These policies
don't affect responsible breeders or adopters. Um, they do not affect responsible breeders or adopters. They simply stop stores from selling animals sourced from puppy melts. And now is the right time for Bloomington because we don't
currently have any puppy selling stores. This would be a preventative move to protect our city from bad actors. Now, let's talk about the circuses that use wild animals. Companies like Cardan International Circus performed locally through the Osman Shriners have long
records of USDA violations for abusing and neglecting animals like elephants and tigers. These animals endure isolation and confinement in cramped cages. It pains me to be this blunt, but elephants have literally died from
beatings in these circuses. Beyond Cruelty, these shows also pose public safety risks with over a dozen deaths and frequent animal escapes since 1990. We're not asking Bloomington to ban all circuses just to join cities like
Minneapolis, Duth, Rochester, South St. Paul, and prohibiting the use of wild animals in performances is a reasonable responsible step to protect animals in our community. and the only circus that performs in Bloomington, the Royal Canadian Circus, currently meets this
model. Together, these two ordinances reflect Bloomington's values of compassion, responsibility, and foresight. Let's be proactive. Let's be humane. Thank you for your time, your
leadership. Thank you. And just to clarify, clarify the humane pet store bill that you've mentioned, it would it would not prohibit the sale of puppies in a pet store, but just puppies from a puppy mill. Is that correct? Or just complete
ban. You want me to you go ahead. Is it okay to speak in? Got about a minute. So answer that in 30 seconds to offer um state director figuring site United States. Now we're the human welfare animals. What this is about is realizing that the state is prohibited
in doing um the rate from preventing the conditions of animals coming in from out of state. So 13 different cities across the state of Minnesota has been proactive with this specifically by making sure that these dogs are not coming from these deplorable horable conditions of puppy males. And so it it
is saying that no dogs can be sold in pet stores because it's a mask of hiding from where these dogs come from. You can still adopt or you can still buy from ethical breeders. Got it. Okay. Thank you. Thank you. Also, additional questions at this. No questions. Just
I'm support for both of those in case you're wondering. I'm sure that's not a surprise to you, Mr. Mayor. Not at all. All right. Well, thank you very much for being here. I don't I don't know, Mr. Mayor, that that's something that we could talk about in organizational business in
terms of like the work plan or for next year or whatever. Sounds good. Yeah. Okay. Thanks for Good evening, council member. Good evening, Mayor. I'll have time to see many of you. I am here to introduce you to the next
infill middle uh missing middle housing proposal for Bloomington. It's the James Avenue City Homes. This will be a planned urban development. It's eight units in uh four twin home buildings.
These will be four sale single family. Uh the site is an acre. And the one item of concern is the rear setbacks are only 20 ft where code wants 30 ft, but this is a putt. So there it's whatever the
site plan is. uh we'll make sure that we have adequate storm water control and snow removal and mobilization through the site. And I just wanted to prompt you to think more about how we get more housing in the city of Bloomington. And I'm excited about this particular one
and I think this is a great way of doing it. So I I don't have anything else for you. I just wanted to bring it by and and uh say hello. And if you have any questions about this, I'm happy to try and answer them now. But um we'll be bringing the plats together here soon
and getting it submitted. We've been through DRC and staff is supportive of this um iteration. We made a lot of changes based on staff recommendations already. So uh we get our plan finished and we'll get it into planning commission and uh for you to to hear.
Hopefully the only fireworks will be this weekend and none when we get closer. Be great. Uh, I appreciate it and appreciate your your uh creative thinking on this on on this and and other issues. I know that you're you're an advocate for housing in
Bloomington and I mean your comments we need to start thinking about more ways, believe me, we think about ways to create housing a number of different ways. Uh, the devil of course is in the details and actually getting it done. So, I appreciate your the work that you're doing to bring bring this forward.
Council member Nelson. No, I thought you were saying. No, I thought I saw a hand. We just uh grabbed coffee sometimes. Okay. I owe you a phone call. So, my bad. Council member Alesandro. Yeah. I just
want to clarify, Mr. Mayor, the if I remember correctly, and I know we did have conversation, Mr. Long about this, the the easement the easement variance request is in the backside. Correct? Did I have that right? in the in the back of each unit. So, it's the north and the south. Okay. It's a 20 foot setback as
opposed to 30 required right now. Okay. And you you have talked to planning or our planning team and they seem to think that that's reasonable at this point to the storm water, right? Yep. Okay. Very good. And uh and um I think if we if I
remember us talking about this, you said eight units basically two four twolexes kind of concept, right? And this the um the garages, what are we doing? What are we are we supporting a single parking spot per unit? Is that how this works? Two so two
style garages for each unit. Okay. Yeah. And the garages would be connected in the middle. Okay. Dwelling units on the outsides, right? Okay. Very good. Thank you for that. Anything else? Great. Very good. Thanks for coming in.
Is there anyone here who wants to speak? We haven't I think we we're through our four speakers. Very good. No, you don't get a second bite of the apple. Sorry. They're all with me. So, council, we are through our agenda for
our listening session. It is 607. I look for a motion to adjourn. It's moved to second. Motion by council member Mo, second by council member Rios to adjurnn. All in favor, please signify by saying I. Opposed? Motion carries. We are ajourned and we will see you all downstairs. Thank you all for coming in
tonight.