--------- e e fluorescent stuff in the cities uhoh call to order for city of Canon Falls city council meeting for Tuesday March 4th 2025 if I could get a roll call please sure Diane Johnson here
Zimmerman here Chad Johnson here jebson here Nook here cronenberger here and Montgomery here please rise for the Pledge of Allegiance Ali 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 if I can get an approval of tonight's agenda all moved motion from Diane second second from Jepson all those in favor say I I oppos nay it passes uh
nobody has signed up for public input so we'll skip item five get it to consent agenda consent agenda items may be adopted under one motion as presented or may be removed for discussion and resolution as Council business item a is the just and correct claims for the accounting period ending on February 26
2025 and Item B meeting minutes February 18th 2025 city council meeting is there anything the council would like to pull down if not I would take a motion to approve the consent agenda motion motion from Lisa second second from Chris all those in favor I opposed carries gets us
to our Council business tonight we will have a presentation memorandum of understanding Three Rivers Community Action John if you'd like to introduce first mayor I'm going to introduce Tracy and Diane from The Three Rivers Community Action they're going to talk to us about a memorandum of understanding for a service agreement
agement for uh the transportation services that are provided within the city of Cannon Falls and surrounding area maybe give me one we'll see if we've got it uh the podium HDMI otherwise we can be quite animated
there we go there we go thank jsh so I'm Tracy um I'm one of the co-directors with highwa Transit um we operate underneath Three Rivers Community Action um just put a short presentation together for you here's just some history of of how public
transit was started and unfortunately in our records I'm not able to tell you the exact year that we started here in Canon Falls um I'm going on my 12th year with Transit and we were in Canon Falls before I started so we've been here a while um and then our latest um
according to this was in 2012 when we took over Northfield and fabol we have added a few smaller um dialed communities since then as well um types of service that we offer um deviated routs are in our bigger communities so Redwing fairbolt and Northfield um we
have a a deviated kind of fixed route um it goes around the same Loop once an hour and we can deviate up to four blocks which is.2 miles um and then we have di ride which is what we operate here in Canyon Falls
that's where people call in where demand response for curb to curb service um we do have um quite a few individuals here in the area that that set up subscription rides so they're needing the same the same Transportation um the same days out of the week for the you know same time frame so they're able to
set that up they only call in if they need to cancel but um we do have that service here in town and then we have a heart volunteer Transportation which we have individuals who volunteer their time and their vehicle to take individuals outside of that area that we can't get to with our buses
um so for the city of Canyon Falls um kind of a map here obviously you're aware of of what what the boundaries are for the city we can travel outside of City Limits if time permits and then we do go to Randolph there is quite a um quite a demand um for schoolage children
to get them back and forth between the two communities so we do have that transportation and then outside when we get out into the country we come into some safety concerns and some um areas of concern when it when it comes to accessing those locations so those we
take as a a Time bytime basis and and we do have a team that goes out and looks at those and and identifies if it's a location we can access or not our ridership um obviously pre-2020 we were we were really doing great um
2020 was hard on all of our service areas we bounced back a little bit and then we're declining some um obviously like I mentioned the Randolph um Kos that is is the the big number of of what we do and that's slowly declining with
the the close of the open enrollment so um definitely some some room for marketing and and to build our ridership back up here in Canyon Falls um here's some of the other um dial ride communities that we service um we have Plain View which is also with
Elgen Wabasha Kellog Kenyan Wanamingo like cityan we go to front neck Pine Island and then zambro mappa um we did update our fairs the beginning of 2024 so a dial ride is now $2.50
cents per ride um and then we at the beginning of 2024 we um started for our first time doing an unlimited monthly pass for our dial ride communities we've had them in our in our route towns but um we had some requests for that in our dial ride communities as well so we have
a student pass which is $60 um that's to and from school they can as much as needed throughout the month and then dial ride um for adult senior and child would be 70 and again they can go anywhere within that service area unlimited they can go multiple
times a day you know no restrictions at all as long as it's within the service area um some exciting things that happened um in 2024 we received a new bus for Canyon Falls this was a bus that I believe was
supposed to be ordered in 2020 it all kind of jumbles together a little bit because we had um 11 buses that showed up in 2024 and we have two more that are that are coming within the next month or two and then another one that we just ordered for the 2024 year um so this bus
was a long time coming if any of you saw the bus that was here at the beginning of 2024 um we were probably one snowbank away from it falling apart um it had done its job for us and um we were able actually that one we ended up um taking
to a junkyard um if any of you seen the ratest Post Bulletin it was highlighted in the trailer races down in St Charles that was the Canon Falls bus that was um that was there so some other things um we're in the midst of a camera system
update we do have onboard surveillance cameras on all of our buses both for the safety of our passengers but also our drivers um and then we are currently taking bids for an upgraded radio system we operate off of the um towers and we want to go to an IP
base so um we're hoping to have that all dialed in but we only have one quote so we're still waiting for another quote on that so that we can get those purchased and installed our plans for 2025 um a new position that we started in 2024 was a
was a education a um Transit education person to help with um educating the public a lot of individuals in the public feel like you have to be disabled or a child or a senior in order to use our service and that's that's just not the case we um are there for anyone and
everyone we do um we take everybody from preschool all the way up to seniors um to school to outings to appointments to work all sorts of things so um our plan is to get him out and about in the communities do presentations at some of
the apartment complexes senior living facilities for groups um different things like that we do want to build our ridership like we said we're still not back to pre-co numbers and we we definitely want to work on that um we are updating our scheduling software to allow for an online app option for
passengers um or their loved ones if they're booking rides for a parent that is um needing our transportation our current software we worked with for the last four years trying to get a passenger portal up and going and it just hasn't happened so we are looking for new software where you
could book a ride you could track that ride you could see where the bus is how you know anticipate when it's going to arrive and also make payments um online so that's um we have a RFP out right now for that looking to implement that over the summer months so we're ready to rock
and roll when school starts um and then another thing that we are starting in 2025 is community connections where we would have the availability for people within the city of Canyon Falls to get both towards Redwing um and Wabasha County if if they so desired and then
also Rice County so Northfield farble um so there'll be some some surveys that'll be coming out um that we'll ask we'll be reaching out and asking for your help with to to get those out to community members and Community Partners um just to get input of where do people want to
go um you know how can we make that a successful a successful um route but we're using some under underperforming route hours um to build those Community connections they're not allowing for any
expansion right now within mindat so we're trying to repurpose some really underperforming routes and trying to help out members of our communities by by doing these Community connections and that is all we have for you if anyone has any
questions I have mine and dian's email um information up there and I'll share this with John and he can um get that out to you all right yes thank you thank you for that update and then just for the action item for the council um in the past uh typically when those bus replac
Replacements came uh three rers would come to the cities that their partner cities and ask them for a contribution usually on that one time uh unfortunately with the state of the world and everything else inflation is is caught up in that world as well those costs of that that equipment has really
gone up um the the bus that they did replace you know is well over twice what the last cost of the bus was so an effort to try to spread that out and um still get support from these communities to help Finance these uh this much needed equipment um they're
looking at Spring that cost over 5 years at a contribution of $6,000 per year uh so that's that's before us tonight in terms of the the request that they have um it has been through some other communities and partner communities that they have uh we did talk about this at our finance committee uh and it was
recommended from there to to approve it tonight any questions or comments from the council hearing none I would seek approval of the memorandum of understanding with three rivers and the actionable item of $6,000 per year for 5 years motion to approve motion from Lisa
second second from Diane all those in favor or was there another question or are you GNA yeah you want to abstain from this one yes I will be abstaining all right uh all those in favor I I opposed so that's a five Zer with
abstain all right one thing I wanted to add real quick um she was too fast the um Community connections I just wanted to make note that that is only going to be at the cost of $5 and it doesn't matter if they would catch the if they
want to go towards wesaw um County they would take the Redwing connection here in Canon falls back to Redwing and then be able to go so it doesn't matter if they're skipping one Community or three communities it's going to be $5 per way
cost yep so um a great thing and we would appreciate your your support when it comes time to Market those all right thanks thank you so much all right we're going to go around the horn Jed um so we have snow coming tonight at
some point uh just ask that uh everybody be safe um while traveling depending on conditions if it is blizzard conditions I will not have the guys out until it is safe for them to be out plowing um so it may not be till later in the morning so
um yeah otherwise you know stay home if you can yep so all right thank you Jed Chief Jed's always a pesimist I'm hopeful that it won't be tons of heavy wet snow and people will be able to get their streets plowed and
out of town and to work tomorrow morning without any trouble to ensure that that happens smoothly please get your cars off the street um we have no idea how much this is going to be is it going to be two inches is it going to be 12 inches um irregardless at some point
those guys are going to come out to clear the streets and having the cars off the streets makes it much safe more safe for them and uh more efficient so we just would ask our residents to make sure they get their vehicles off the street tonight because snow is coming uh we're fairly confident of that we just
don't know how much and how heavy so thank you thank you Chief Sarah nothing John um since Laura's is not here I will uh share with the group uh the Eda hosted a kind of strategic planning meeting or collaboration meeting with uh
members from the school board the chamber uh the Eda EIC and uh some of the council members as well were able to participate really a great conversation kind of really spark some ideas uh for things that we want to see and I believe we'll kind of take some of that and move
that into more action items down the road and then again I want to say a big thanks to the council for all coming to yesterday uh to that Council treat I found that for myself personally and professionally it's going to be really helpful uh and as we you know navigate
and work through and this relationship that we have uh just kind of begun so I thank you very much for that all right thanks John Laura I'm good Chris good Jeep good Diane Lisa good Jad
uh I want to thank Jed for the tour of the plant this week and uh last week I was able to go to the league of Minnesota City so thanks for that John uh congratulations to the boys wrestling individuals that uh made it to
State uh I believe the two brothers uh Owen and Adam Parish took third in their weight classes so congratulations to them um earlier today I was fortunate enough to be invited out to uh Danny londell uh his farm is southwest of town
he had an event where Governor walls actually visited Canon Falls today so they invited me out there I got to uh meet the governor and um say a little introduction uh with his appearance not every day that I know in smalltown politics we are nonpartisan but not every day the governor gets to visit
your city so um that was a nice event and I'm glad that Danny had reached out to uh invite me to that um other than that the work session today with uh track being present that has been recorded is that going to be posted on YouTube okay so if our citizens do have
some questions or uh they can always watch it there try to catch up on that um obviously they laid out a timeline in front of all the different things that are going to have to happen um in the near future so yeah it it will not be the last time we see hear from them and
certainly as we said in the meeting um and reiterated if you have comments about the project whether they're specifically related to the environmental concerns that the a is going to be addressing or if it's building and zoning and planning and you site development concerns you can share
them like that that's they may not be the perfect time for that moment but we're not here to to turn comments away correct those comments will be seen guaranteed and responded to so all right uh with nothing else I would entertain a motion to adjourn so moved motion from
Jep second second from Lisa all those in favor I opposed we're adjourned thank you everybody Part: 2
e e hey hey how are you folks all right forgot my carbon I know I brought two bottles just in case two bottles of what no one can tell what that
is gaving in call to order for our joint session meeting with the uh Planning and Zoning the council and all of our esteemed guests um so we're official officially gaveled in
how do we uh how do we start this John uh let's uh do an introduction of uh some of the folks that we have here tonight so perfect I know we have some new council members we also have some of our uh consultant staff here with our city
engineer and City attorney that we they haven't been to a meeting yet in a couple months sometimes that's a good thing when you don't have to have the Consultants at the meeting so we have Bill angerman from whks and Shelly Ryan from uh Barry our attorney so for our
new council members that haven't met them um they're here tonight and then uh throughout the audience we have a bunch of different folks kind of represented uh but mostly it's um you know folks from tract and kimley Horn and their Consultants that are going to kind of
give us an overview of the AA process so as the last couple meetings and what we've heard um you you've heard us talking about the scoping document that was uh kind of finalized and been published and and is out there for for comment now um but they're going to give
us a little bit more um kind of depth on what the next parts of that are going to look like where people have opportunities to speak what generally it is um because we do want to make sure there's some Awareness on um what the comment periods are for the AAR process
then what the comment periods are going to be for kind of the zoning land use process um and as the Project's going to move into the next phases and hopefully get to the point of development where you know those opportunities will rise in in future meetings for for comment so
you know it's really um taking our time and effort and I'm really appreciative of of the folks for being here today to kind of help us navigate this and help our uh residents and people in the surrounding Community as we Annex this property to kind of know what this
development could look like what the process going to look like where their voices are going to be heard uh and that that input is going to kind of fall into play for us to take into consideration as as we you know move through this so I'm going to kick it off to Bill who's gonna kind of give us a little bit more
rundown and then pass it on before we get bill before we get started I do see that we do have we need an approval of the agenda so before we get going too far let's just uh I'll take a motion to approve tonight's agenda motion from Diane second from Ryan all those in favor say I I opposed carries thank you
Bill uh thank you mayor thank you John well John kind of really summed it up pretty well but uh in your packet uh there is a memo from me just kind of outlining what John had mentioned uh it also outlines some of the timeline so we are actually right now in our public comment period okay so that uh started
uh on actually what's the date today mayor yeah the fourth so today is the start of the public comment so on our website and the link is in the memo is the sculping document that uh John referred to in a memo as well on how to submit comments um and those comments
are for 30 days so those will run through April 3rd and I think the key distinction that John mentioned this is a scoping document what that means is this is just laying out what's going to be studied and we're going to have uh Ashley Payne from kimley horn is going to give us a little bit longer but I think that's important so so the scoping
document has some key items that it's going to look at it's going to look at impact on water of this development it's going to look at impact on Water Resources geology soils Wildlife historic properties uh and so on okay and what's it's going to look at is uh two different de development scenarios
and ashle will explain that a little more and that is our job uh as the council we are the body uh what's called the responsible government unit we are the body that's collecting these comments we are making sure these comments are addressed how we do that is we're going to work with the consultant
with uh the developers consultant to make sure they're they're to our satisfaction so so far what we have done as staff is we have reviewed these documents we've had a back and forth uh with comments theyve made revisions Etc uh to where we are comfortable with
these going out uh to notice so with that introduction mayor um Ashley Payne from kimley horn I think Ashley's next up is going to go through some slides unless you have any questions of me any from the council all right all right thank you mayor thank
you oh HDMI [Music] or okay [Music] thank you good evening Council and Planning Commission members I'm Ashley Payne I'm
an environmental scientist at kimley horn I've been doing um environmental reviews for almost 20 years now and um I'm just here we're going to talk a little bit as uh Bill had mentioned just more about the a process I think I had
spoken with a few of you earlier when the RG agreement was before Council um but did want to give kind of an overview of environmental review documents um knowing it might be a little bit new especially the AAR so to kind of take it back um and I think this is all in your packet um
we'll also explain it on the screen so environmental review is um a state process it aims to avoid and minimize damage to environmental um Minnesota's environmental resources caused by public and private action so not just private projects but public projects also
require an environmental review um the Environmental Quality board oversees the environmental review program um there are some links kind of here but um the eqb is how we'll refer to it um one thing about environmental reviews is there's way too many acronyms so if I
say something and you have questions or if you guys have questions as I'm talking I do want to make this a little bit interactive so we can answer those questions up front um so as Bill had mentioned the rgu is the responsible government unit
um as noted in Minnesota rules the rgu is identified as either the single government unit that proposes to carry out or has sold jurisdiction or two or more government units that propos to carry out or have jurisdiction to approve the project um that is actually
the case for this particular site um and that was the rgu agreement that came forward um earlier this year um to allow the city of Canon Falls to act as the rgu for this um environmental review document so the environmental review
program is not an approval process um it doesn't approve or deny a project it just lays out um the existing conditions um potential impacts for a particular project and then it also identifies um
mitigation strategies or mitigation measures um that could be um looked at or could be enforced by the rgu for a particular project there's multiple levels of environmental review um there's the environmental assessment worksheet there is the environmental
impact statement and then there's the alternative Urban areawide review and so we're going to talk a little bit more about the aoar or the alternative Urban areawide review so just looking at what does require an environmental review in the
state of Minnesota um so we just have kind of a handy cheat sheet I know it's a little bit hard to read so I apologize for that um but just looking at certain thresholds so if a project um meets or exceeds a threshold based on State Statute or Minnesota rules in a
particular size of a municipality um it would require its own environmental review so there's a little chart that we're showing on the screen right now um that identifies um environmental or the thresholds for industrial commercial and institutional facilities so that's
actually the the category that's defined in State Statute or Minnesota rules and the Minnesota rules are 4410 4300 4410 4400 if you need some late night reading it's really great um it's very very technical but um we're just looking at
this so anything over you know 250 or 500,000 square feet um would require an environmental review or an Eis um an alternate to an Eis or an environmental impact statement is allowing the alternative Urban areawide review process
process and if you're looking at the form on the screen it says you know first CL class City second class City third and fourth that's based on population and that's also defined in State Statute so in the state of Minnesota we actually only have four municipalities that are considered first
class cities um and that's just based on a population over over 100,000 or defined in State Statute so the um alternative Urban areawide review or the AAR is a hybrid process between an environmental assessment worksheet and an Eis or an
environmental impact statement um an rgu can allow a project to move forward within um AAR if the project like I said exceeds an Eis threshold and it allows it based on scenarios so it allows it um and a
allows it as more of a planning tool to identify you know multiple development scenarios for a particular project area and so as Bill had defined earlier um this particular site we're looking at two potential development scenarios um
moving forward and um for an a there's also what we consider the a study area which is the G geographic area that defines the project and so just some of the topics I guess any questions so far yeah go ahead
I guess I have one question why why the AU instead of a um Eis or eaw like are we skirting around anything by going with the a AR or CU I know how painful an Eis can be yeah we are actually not so an AAR is essentially an e level
review but we're looking at based on scenarios and not just a particular project so um you're still having to go through a draft you know scoping process which we're in right now then there's the preparation of the draft AAR um that 30-day public comment per period after
that you know it's revised to the final then it goes out for another 10day objection period as well so we're not actually skirting around anything um it also allows you know mitigation strategies so identifying particular um you know strategies for you know we're
looking at those two scenarios so you know scenario a or scenario one could require this for mitigation or if you know scenario two were to move forward it could be different mitigation and a lot of times we see that for utilities um traffic analysis those type of things
okay and I guess I have one more question um public comment period you know you said you said it just started today is that something that we get to see or is that something that's done you know at the administrator engineer level how does that work uh so all the public
comments we we are required to assemble them and then we would show you those or you would see those comments and then uh if they're just a straight uh I like this project I don't like it there's maybe no compet there's something like please describe X we would then uh ask
Ashley or her team to address that comment actually we we address all comments okay yep right yeah and so um all those comments will be received by the city we will help prepare responses to those as Bill had mentioned and then
um after the first 30-day public comment period the documents so the final a order and scoping will will come in front of the city council and the city council will need to adopt the final order so essentially saying we um want you to prepare an AO for this project so
right now we're just in the scoping phase stating identifying the methodology so what will be studied as part of the aoar the scenario so those two scenarios and then actually the study area yeah um looking at all the maps in this
document this looks like an area that is larger than what I originally thought that track had requested is this correct or I think this is this same study area that we've always been looking
at when they when we first looked at what track was proposing to where they were going to build and everything I thought it was a smaller portion of that area than this total but I there again the other Maps were not real clear yeah it's this is all the land
that is being proposed to be purchased by track for develop yes correct yes okay the two um so our study area is approximately 251 acres and currently there's some land that's within the city of Canon balls
and then there is a portion of land that's within Randol Township good okay so just topics that are studied in an A bill kind of went through this um so climate climate adaptation and resilience contamination hazardous waste
greenhouse gas emissions Water Resources noise um fish and wildlife plant communities land use geology soils historic properties visual air transportation um and then also cumulative so those are all the
different categories and those are all um the different topics that are actually studied as part of the AO document and I guess just kind of going back to the topics of studied in the aoar so the way that the aoar is laid out and if you have the scoping document in front of you right now um like I said
we are just identifying what we will study so a lot of is is existing conditions information and then what we will actually study is part of the AO um it does identify the different scenarios but as we move into the AO document it will identify like I said existing
conditions potential impacts or proposed impacts um for each of the scenarios um it could be that the same impacts will result from either scenario so that could be defined in the document as well and then it will also identify mitig mitigation strategies so we like to call
them strategies because you know if things were to change um we're looking at maximum density that could go out there so um the scenarios that are being studied in the AOE might not necess neily be what is constructed at the end or what might come in through
entitlements um but it so identifies the strategy so what would be required for mitigation if that were to occur and in the mitigation plan it will outline all of the different sections like I said the mitigation and then it you know could Define who is the
responsible party as well so environmental documentation kind of oversees like I said EI S's aars and eaws um this graphic is a little bit hard to read so I know it's in your packet um actually outlines all of the
different components of um a particular you know technology park Data Center and the different oversight agencies or different agencies that will review it um have to provide some sort of permit approval um or you know like I said will
provide some sort of input on the project um so as you can see there's a lot of of different agencies there's a lot of different components that go into this and so um you know all of this a lot of this information there's a few categories here that wouldn't be included as part of an a there's another
oversight body besides just the Minnesota eqb um but a lot most of these categories are included in the AAR and so as part of the distribution of all the documents they go to the state agencies so there's about 25 state agencies um that do receive a copy of
that and they would provide comments if they do have comments on the overall document so um this is a good you know timeline or snapshot to show all of the different review agencies and all of the different um you know components for the
project as any questions on this I just want to you know to the council I I love seeing this because I think there might be a lot of people in the community that have a lot of questions on already and they come directly to myself or the council and to have this sheet to show how many
different agencies have to look at this and give this a thumbs up without just saying well the council said they could like there's a lot of agencies this isn't there's nothing that's going to be done you know we're very transparent with who's all involved and and all the requirements so I really think that this
is wonderful to have yeah and on the the review agencies as well those agencies that are listed on the eqb distribution list get a copy of the scoping document and our methodology for what what we're going to include or the studies that will be
completed for the A and they can provide comment on that so if they you know a lot of times we see comments on traffic um like hey have you thought about this make sure you're looking at this intersection or something like that or you know DNR making sure you're addressing um endangered species or you
know potential water Appropriations that might be needed or something like that so A lot of times we're getting comments in advance of the AO document to make sure that we're starting to address some of those maybe questions that the agencies have or some of the concerns like I said the um
Environmental Quality board the eqb kind of oversees um the environmental review process and you know the the agencies are listed here if they do have questions or something they can go and talk to the eqb um as well um so just wanted to outline some of the
steps that I've kind of mentioned a few times here for a an a for a large project so um there's kind of the standard a process and then there's the standard or there's the process for large projects so those are the projects that have one component that exceeds an
Eis threshold or one of the scenarios encompasses over 50% of the a set area so we took both of those boxes and so we're going to go through the the steps for a large project um so those steps are the draft order and scoping document so that's the process we're in right now
so that's a 30-day public and agency comment period starts today runs through April 3rd um the final order so after all of those comments are received by the city um and we work through any
changes that are needed or responses to comments that will go into the final order and the scoping document so the final order and the scoping document is is adopted by the city council and that's essentially um saying that you are ordering the preparation for the AO
so I know we're kind of already in that process but you're officially saying yes we want an AO to be completed on this property these are the scenarios to be studied this is the study area and this is the information that's going to be provided in the AO
document from there we move into the AO and the mitigation plan and so there's the draft AO mitigation plan once that's you know ready and final that goes forward to a 30-day public comment period from there those comments it's kind of the same process those
comments are received we'll work with the city to respond to any of those comments um and I will say substantive comments you know like like Bill said if we get one that says we really like this project we say you know comment noted um sometimes we get them but they don't like the project you know we'll want to
make sure that we're responding to the subsequent com comments after the 30 3day public comment period we prepare the final AO and mitigation plan so any changes that come in based on the comments will get revised and then that document actually has to go out for a
10-day state agency objection period so this all of the state agencies so those 25 agencies get another 10-day comment period or comment window to provide any final comments to make sure that they are comfortable with the mitigation that's outlined in the aoar document
after we get through through the 10-day objection period then that will come back to city council for final adoption and so you're F you're adopting the final a document and then the mitigation plan for the overall review and so as
you can see there's multiple steps um this will come back in front of you a couple of times and then there's also you know um two additional comment periods for either the public or the seate agencies there any questions on
this process or kind of where we're at in the process I've got a question how often do you make significant changes in that period where after you take all the comments and then you know redraft and then that final how how often do you make a significant change um we don't usually make a significant change
especially if we've already gone through the scoping process a lot of times those comments are already vetted um so I would say there could be some you know small tweaks or changes that would be made um between the draft order and scoping document and then the draft AAR
um very rarely do we make significant changes to the document um I don't think in all my years of doing environmental reviews or a we've had to you know send it back out for another comment period or something just because there was something you know significantly that had changed thank
you so the large the steps for the large project it it is you know it does add some additional time to the overall you know process but it does really vet out to make sure that you know all of the agencies the review agencies are comfortable with the methodology and
what's being studied as part of the a so this is just kind of a tenative schedule um for the AO and I say tenative just because you know things can fluctuate or change so you can see where we are in the process we're at the draft order scoping 30-day public comment period as I'd mentioned before
that goes you know March uh 4th through April 3rd um and then after that this will come in front of city council or the the um final order for um the preparation of the a will come in front of City Council in April and then we
will go out for the 30-day public comment period for the draft aoar um so we're looking at finalizing the full process um summer 2025 so we still have a few months left um I think the anticipated schedule has like August
time frame but again just wanting to make sure we have enough time to address all the comments and everything um and then I did just include the link um to the eqb website that provides a little bit more um
information about an aoar kind of the process the um there is kind of a reference guide that the eqb has published for a documents any questions so far no okay all right feel like I'm
doing a lot of talking so if I'm talking too much or too fast please let me know you're doing great um so we just wanted to provide kind of a little bit of a snapshot of overview of I guess where we are in the process for this project and
then kind of what is remaining um so as you can see on the left side um we're in the environmental review so we're in scoping and so so that's that 30-day public comment period And so you can kind of see the project at AO and then all of the entitlements that follow and
all of the other approvals that follow after that so we are in the very early stages of the project and still working through everything so we just wanted to share that as well um this is a little bit helpful kind of for general public as well to understand where we are for
environmental review how many different steps there are you know this will come back in front of Planning Commission city council this goes out like I I said for multiple C public comment periods for the environmental review process um and then kind of what's remaining this is also a lot of
information on one sheet so um I would like to comment I don't know wouldn't say that the end part is to scale because you know construction period in CER take a lot longer than even the study part in plan so so don't
expect oh wow we spent uh six months on this they can construct it in a month yeah definitely not uh trying to squeeze it on one one sheet of paper but yeah definitely extends out from construction and then you know certificate of occupancy so uh if people have questions
about water useing and all that that would come more more in the mitigation type thing or where would those comments be yeah so if they have comments on you know water or utilities that some of that information
will be included as part of the AO that is a a section in in the a document um so we will talk about water usage or potential water usage right um we don't know exactly what's going to happen out there because we're in the very early stages of everything but we'll talk
about about potential water usage we'll also talk about potential mitigation so if the project uses X many gallons um or million gallons per day um this is what would be required from a city infrastructure standpoint or a government agency standpoint because if
there's a a change to a water Appropriations permit that's needed that will be outlined in the aoar document also gets into sanitary um sewer so Wastewater wastewater treatment is also addressed as part of an a document as
well I was just yep trying to figure out kind of where I I saw the outline of it and it was you know to be discussed later to be dis and I thought I didn't know if what part of the yep so that will be included in the draft aoar and then you know if
there's any changes or additional information will be included in the final and then that will also get kind of unvetted through the full process as well so we're just looking at the study right now and then as you know the project
progresses um the project team will be working really closely with the city and the city engineer to better understand what all of that looks like thank you else okay I was just wondering we have you have your time frames in there but is
this like the only city that's got this program going I mean we got a lot of State organizations that have to be involved this the final approval is there like are we competing with them like so that this time frame could actually extend further or you just here a set right where it is we don't have to
worry about extensions no I mean typically not um for the a process you wouldn't need to worry about extension so the city is the rgu they're the ones that approve the document um all of those other components could be in addition to our current a you know the a
that is currently underway or that we're working on through scoping um but the city is the one that would be you know looking at the overall timeline and there are specific timeline set in State Statute so um from the date that
you um adopt an uh an order to prepare in aoar you have 120 days um now that can be extended but in State Statute so like this process you know it couldn't be delayed I mean potentially you could but um what they try to get at is just
so that the process continues to move it's so in State Statute it does say for an AAR um similar to an Eis an Eis has particular um time frames as well just to make sure that they don't extend out you know years and years like other states um but in State Statute it does
say once you adopt the final order for an AO you have 120 days to adopt the final AO but in some of those other components I guess let's go back to that slide um so in here just looking at the overall
um information here so looking at the different components um you know some of those additional approvals would have their own timelines as well would fall within no so that would be in addition to this a process so right now we're just looking at that but
some of these other ones could like fuel storage for instance um looking at you know a potential air permit that would come you know after an AAR is approved so the one thing about an a is once you've started the process um like the
city couldn't approve a development to go and you couldn't start construction on a project within the AO study area um if it hasn't already been entitled I guess I got a question here so can you go back to the slide with the development process I guess
mhm because I just want to make sure I'm interpreting this right so the numbers up there the purple dots yep those that's every opportunity for the public to comment on this right um or those are the timelines the public can comment on this correct from
like a a 30-day public comment period but I think um Trish I don't know where you are correct me if I'm wrong but like for Planning Commission city council if there's a hearing that has to occur as part of that process the public could comment on that as well okay I'm just
trying to get from a public standpoint if there are concerned residents out there um I guess I would see I mean if there's a comment and they have concerns get them in as soon as possible would be my advice but I think
once we get to site plan review you or whoever has already done all of that work of this is what we're going to put in here AKA we probably won't change the plans based on your input does that sound appropriate or now Now's the Time if if the Public's
concerned I would say looking at this timeline now Within by the time we get done with this Au AR that's probably when we would want all of the public input yes so I'm Kristen Dean I'm with tract um thanks for um allowing us to
have this opportunity to explain this process and also just another chance to to meet with you guys um so the AAR is really this preliminary study of the land and looking at these alternative scenar scarios and it and it's
beneficial in that it helps us understand what the mitigation measures what mitigation measures need to be considered as we move through the process of of creating the development plans the defined development plans for
this site so the AAR is very high level um it's this early stage kind of umbrella guiding document there are opportunities for public comment in the auar and it really does need to precede our final like when
our final zoning of the site um and so and we're we're navigating this along with Randolph Township too right at the same time so as we're going through this auar process we are going to be talking to City staff we are going to be talking
to the community about the rezoning and so the rezoning is more of the local level framework it's the setbacks it's the it's the height it's the you know access points it's what's you know really trying to build out the framework of the horizontal and vertical
development with the a are guiding any kind of mitigation that needs to be considered through these processes we are going to hold a community meeting it's going to be late in April is what we're flagging we're looking at dates right now the reason it's late in April
is because that gives us time to get further down the road with the AAR and also engage in the conversations with staff about the Pud and resoning framework so that when we meet with the public we have more answers than
outstanding questions it does not mean that we figured everything out by then because we want their comments to also um guide the development of the property so we're trying to really find that sweet spot as to when to when to
present information to to the public um and so we we don't want to do it you know too early but we don't want to do it too late either and so late April feels like we'll be in a good place for that then we'll be moving through the rezoning process and that's a just a
different set of review criteria it's the local process that we're doing with the city um and so then the public comment will be reflected um or be tied to what is being proposed through that rezoning process in the AAR we're still
going through the AAR as we're kind of moving through the rezoning um but we're going to be kind of coming into the tail end of the AAR while we're picking up steam with the rezoning does that makes is that does that help that's helpful I just want people to understand when when they should come forth with
concerns comments Etc when's the appropriate time to do it I think that um they're going to be we what what we want to try to um manage is people coming to their
own conclusions about things because they don't have enough information but we can't come to them with information until we've done all of our studies and so um we will we're going to create a website we'll have
contact information Brian mclung is here um he's with um he's our PR person and so he's our boots on the the ground Dakota County resident that can meet with people oneon-one can meet with um he'll be facilitating our community meeting so we have a real local presence
here along with our our Consultants too so we want to make sure that the public has opportunities to engage we'll have the website we'll have email address we'll have a 1 1800 number um plenty of opportunity for not just that community meeting engagement but one-on-one engagement too with people we think that
that helps um a community meeting we've all been through them you know they're they're a small amount of time to try to get a lot of questions answered and people may not feel like they had an adequate time for that so that's why we
want to have these additional meetings um with them but what I also want to explain on what is tracks model is we're establishing the framework for future development and so people are going to want to know what is exactly going what
is it going to look like we have some I we have some conceptual ideas of what it will look like but that's not what we're doing in this stage of development that's not what we're doing in the AAR and that's not what we're doing in the rezoning that actual um the details of the horizontal
and vertical development come at the site plan level so we're building everything up so that by the time someone comes in at a site plan they have all these reg additional regulatory measures that we've all vetted through together through this process and they have to comply with those or if there
are modifications that are needed they go through the process with the city to get those modifications so we're just we're kind of pre-planning and pre-programming the site but it really comes down to the site plan processes to you know what it actually looks
like I'd say at any point like comments are always acceptable to be turned in like they may not be specifically relevant or appropriate for AAR they'll be a knowledge and kind of directed as such like if it's a building quality or
you know building style uh comment in the scoping review not relevant right now and yet it's still important to to note and it it will be recorded uh for us along the way so you know I I think
that the final part of saying these studies are for preparing us for that site plan review I think are really important I think it's to make sure that our we comprehensively vetting all of things environmental uh you know the zoning of
our area where the where the project is going to be located are we taking in all the considerations of those factors before we go and say this is more what it's going to look like and those things are guiding that development as well
y okay well yeah great clarification again so track basically gets the land ready with all the permitting and all this what we're going through do you then as a company uh Market that and sell it to another company who will
actually present the site plan and build it out or do you contain continue to own it and rent it or so we have a number of different ways to facilitate the vertical development one is tracked can
continue to own the land and ground lease it to an end user tract has the ability to be the end user through an affiliate company and go vertical so we're we're thinking about that mindset as well so we can under an affiliate
company build data centers or we can sell the land to a hyperscaler a meta A Google a Microsoft we have those relationships with them so we we those kind of like I would say three exit
strategies two of which tract retains full control of the site in some various form the third with the selling you know this is going to be a two campus site so it could be that we employ one of our um
strategies where we say we ground lease or our affiliate builds but then we sell the other campus to a Microsoft but we're we're planning while we may not ultimately be the end user we pl we plan as if we are so we're thinking about that mindset and
thinking strategically about what does the end user want and need to set them up for success and to where because that's I mean to to be honest and and very transparent you know that's where our business succeeds is that if we have a very seamless transition between what
we've done this work here to the end user then that makes the land more valuable to them because this is the this is the heavy lift like this is the this is the thing that takes the longest amount of time um requires a lot of of a lot of investment um time and
financially into the community into the infrastructure and so our business is successful when we can essentially hand a turn key shovel ready site to an enduser whoever that may be any other questions from the council anything else that needs to be included
with the presentation I guess just to reiterate where we're at in the process we're in the E process um it's really The Upfront due diligence to better understand what could be required or you know what existing conditions or conditions are out on the site and what could be required and that's including
utilities um with water and sewer and other infrastructure um including roads you know we we're doing a traffic study to better understand are there turn lanes that are required or is there any other um potential traffic mitigation or traffic calming measures that would be
required for this type of a development we're looking at two scenarios one's an industrial park and one is a technology park um so there will be some you know differences identified in the overall a document because of that um just because the the two different uses look at you
know traffic for instance a little bit differently so um that is all going to be included as part of the overall a document regarding annexation Industrial Park obviously the north side of town do we have anything that's designated a technology park in the city
of Canon Falls at this point in time I was I don't believe so yeah I don't think Business Park not Technology Park okay and and with that trying to put this all together when say two campuses
so could there be one industrial One tech center or would they not be compatible at all no uh I'm sorry in with what we're proceeding with two campuses would be two Technology Park campuses so two data
center campuses yes we're not looking at changing the use on one it's just um an opportunity to have multiple end users okay and if it was industrial it would be the entire area area you said there were two possible it
so we're looking at two scenarios so we're talking two different processes and two different items so we're looking at two different scenarios so so the entire 251 Acres could be an industrial park um or the 251 Acres could be a
technology park that could be multiple campuses um there could be multiple industrial users let's say if it does move forward with an industrial park there could be multiple indust users that go in there so I guess you could say maybe two industrial parks for
instance on those 251 Acres but we're looking at those two scenarios for the entire study area um Kristen is talking a little bit more specifically as they move forward with kind of entitlements and development and just uh to help
clarify the evaluation it of an a a AR As I understood too is looking at the The Highest Potential use of the property it NE it may not necessarily mean the expected use of the property but the potential use of the property
correct hence why also incorporating industrial use into the evaluation of the site correct is that correct that's correct and so we're looking at maximum density of development so what could go there based on you know code or existing constraint so obviously there are some
existing constraints out there with the you know set back requirements um you know there are you know I think there is a couple of wetlands that were identified there's an existing irrigation W so like just some of those items that have already been identified um would set you know some constraints
on on the within the study area so we're looking at maximum density of what could go there and that's where that that mitigation plan comes in so if you know the maximum density of development
does move forward um you would identify in the mitigation plan like okay if you are going to impact the Wetland that's out there this is the process this is the permit that's required you would be required to provide mitigation that type
of thing um if you need you know X me X many million gallons per day of water um this is the process that would be required for that including any utility extensions that would be needed on the city infrastructure side
so really where we're at right now is like upfront due diligence so really just understanding what's out there if this were to move forward what would be required by an end user or by a developer contractor
Etc um throughout the full process they're also great reads late at night compared to environmental rules they get a little l lengthy I'm going to admit sometimes you know hundreds of pages um there's some out on the eqb so
if you go to the eqb website and you're just kind of wondering what an a looks like you can actually click on some um documents that have been done within the States you can kind of see what that looks like all right is there anything
else I just want to uh share like my appreciation for the work that they've been doing so far I mean I will say there's a lot of stuff also happening behind the scenes as they're preparing for this this isn't oh we start to we got to get to this stage and then we can start work on the next thing uh they're
they're very much doing their diligence to be prepared for that and excuse me I've been responsive to the city in terms of our requests and and help helping us navigate through this process as well cuz um and for me I know this is
my first experience with an AAR so um I do want to share my thanks for for their team and my Consultants as well for um for helping us with that and in the end like this is really helpful for the city as in terms of preparing a site for
potential you know its best case best use development I mean granted we have a very strong Prospect in what this could be and in the end we're going to be given a lot of very valuable information on what the site you know what the
potential is for the site and how it's going to um you know could impact the city what we need to do to mitigate those impacts as well as what the potential is going to be for its its future development so it's it's really a valuable process to to me to help give
us that kind of uh road map moving forward and how things can be developed and I guess one thing I did miss um to explain so an a is really um valid for only five years so every five years the document needs to be updated so you're
looking at what's been completed for development what's been completed for mitigation and what's required moving forward so this document isn't just a oneandone um once it's done it's put on the Shelf it's actually um reviewed and updated every five years to keep it a
valid document so um you know that would be something to continue to look at as you know as things progress on the site as vment progresses in the area even if there's changes in the city infrastructure side of things um that would need to be updated as part of the
environmental review or the a update anything else from the council landing and Zoning anything else thank you very much for your time much we appreciate it Shelly anything or Bill I just wanted to show everyone that
um on the city website that there is a um that a landing page was created for this project so if you can't find the link from your documents or whatever sent out so if you go under the Community tab on our website there's a can Falls Technology Park page that's
been created so on here is where you can find the scoping document um or any other documents we'll get some other we um Kristen I know is going to be creating a landing page from track that will also have some FAQs about data
centers and that kind of stuff where that will be I'll have a link to that on here as well so any information that we either present we have projects there's updates as things go forward will'll be on this page as well so you can either refer people to this or you can find
information here as well Laura will this be on um like YouTube will they be able to watch the work session uh the I don't know if are the work sessions televised uh work sessions are not
televised they're recorded but noted okay so that's all I have all right thank you anything else thank you so much uh Last Chance other than that I'd look for a motion to adjourn so motion motion from Diane I
second from Chad all those in favor I I opposed we're adjourned thank you everybody come